Ellen Muehlberger
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emuehlbe.bsky.social
Ellen Muehlberger
@emuehlbe.bsky.social
4.8K followers 710 following 1.6K posts
Michigander with ideas about ancient history, writing, cats, bikes

I'm probably gonna ask you what you're writing

Things Unseen, available open access from University of California Press: https://luminosoa.org/books/m/10.1525/luminos.253
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emuehlbe.bsky.social
Such a thrill to get to the book exhibit and see the cover for Things Unseen up on the big board---stop by the @ucpress.bsky.social booth to get a copy!
Mark DelCogliano kindly took a picture of me---white lady, big smile, glasses, black suit, stripey block neutral colored scarf, chinlength hair that is fading out to grey in places---holding my book, Things Unseen, in front of the University of California Press display, which had a big image of the book up on its backboard.
November 24, 2025 at 1:51 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Upon receiving an email forward from Epstein about a "Women of the World" conference, @lkrauss1.bsky.social suggested doing a "Men of the World" conference---signed with his ASU sig block
Krauss's suggestions for the Men of the World conference speakers: Kevin Spacey, Bill Clinton, Al Franken, Woody Allen
November 13, 2025 at 1:39 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Fall break, man
A stack of books on a wooden table (which also is covered with puzzle pieces): it's a white paperback with an iridescent gold-colored jar on the front, title in light blue is Things Unseen, by me! Subtitle is in orange: Essays on Evidence, Knowledge, and the Late Ancient World
October 14, 2025 at 6:48 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Fall break, man
View of the Huron River from my kayak: the water is still and glassy, reflecting trees on the banks that are green, but going to yellow and other colors, and a sky that is bright blue with both puffy and light-brush clouds in it. A kayaker floats ahead of me in a blue boat with their paddle at rest (that's Gina!)
October 14, 2025 at 11:22 AM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Roz Chast:
A Roz Chast cartoon, one panel: we see a man sitting on a couch in a mundane living room, and he has two thought bubbles. The one on the left says "Get up." and the one on the right says "No." Caption overhead reads: "The Mind-Body Problem"
September 23, 2025 at 12:51 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Maryland knows what's up
A gravel trail leads away from the camera, while my bike is leaned up against a concrete foundation for a rusty old train bridge that crosses over the trail. On the bridge is a tag that's been painted over, though you can still see that it was some variety of a black and white striped flag. In pink paint, there are arrows pointing to a new tag, also in pink, that says "fash go home." Also a small tag of the ubiquitous little ghost whose name is I think "Dumpy"
September 18, 2025 at 2:59 AM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Awwwwww yeaaaaaah

It was a party at the CVS, big line, but it happened
Two white women posed with the left arms bare to show two bandages each(one is Gina, who has short salt and pepper hair and a gray NPR AF shirt on, with a nice short sleeve of tattoos on that arm; the other is Ellen with a bob cut, glasses holding back her hair, and a mustard colored shirt on. Behind us is a light blue sky with a nice treeline)
September 6, 2025 at 8:59 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Courtbouillon commence!
An cast iron pan with mustard/orange glaze, there's about a cup of light-dark brown liquid being stirred by a wooden spoon
August 29, 2025 at 9:32 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Kate McKinnon in SNL Live Actually spoof holding a title card: "He will kill us all"
August 29, 2025 at 11:20 AM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Apparently there's not a single 90 degree angle in the whole business---the guy who designed and built them was at least 1/3 MacGyver
Conrer of a house with built in bookshelves: one side to the ceiling, the other stops at counter height
August 29, 2025 at 11:12 AM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Best cover, or *bestest* cover? Get yourself Jenny Barry's new @ucpress.bsky.social book, with Fuseli's The Nightmare put to excellent use
Picture shows a framed print of Fuseli's painting The Nightmare (which is a sleeping, perhaps unconscious women in light-colored nightgown, reclined on her bed; a squatty dark demonic thing sits on her chest and looks directly at the viewer, and in the background is a startling, glass-eyed black mare's head) hung on a yellow wall; a pair of hands hold up a copy of Jennifer Barry's new book, Gender Violence in Late Antiquity, from the University of California Press.
August 21, 2025 at 6:10 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Bonjour, hi
A selfie of Ellen and Gina, in the background is a strip of forest and then below that a city and water in the distance---that is, we are atop Mont Royal in Montréal
August 14, 2025 at 6:40 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
One of my big hairy goals for the year was our local club's gravel race---the Watermoo, 112 miles of punchy, gorgeous Michigan gravel---and this year I was ready and had a *fantastic* day. Didn't hurt to have a friend at the race---how often do you get to chat all things Origen at the afterparty?
Two human posing in front of a backdrop of multiple farm animals (it's the album-cover-llama-plus-goat-plus-chicken-plus-long-haired-cow image from a couple years ago). Ellen's on the left, in a Ann Arbor Velo Club cow print kit, sporting the Watermoo hat and a big grin, on the right is Peter Martens in a black kit and smiling, holding the commemorative road sign for this year, which says Loveland Road. We both look a bit toasty---it was in the 90s, humid, and we raced a long time (Ellen's time: 8:28, Peter's time: 7:11).
August 11, 2025 at 1:19 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
My girl and I getting a little Vitamin C at a friend's house
On one side of the photo, Ellen is standing and pets the head of a black and white cat perched on a stool near her; on the other side, Gina sits on the floor and rubs the belly of a second black and white cat who is laying in a cardboard box
July 30, 2025 at 7:14 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
What perfect album came out when I was 16? Well, THE perfect album
The cover of Depeche Mode's Violator: a red silhouette of a rose on a black background, with "Depeche Mode" on a small gray tag in the corner and "violator" in white cursive at the lower right
July 23, 2025 at 12:43 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
I'm on a bike tour and literally every place I've arrived, there is some flavor of orange cat to greet me

This morning I got a full on love attack from this white and orange land orca himbo

Head butt, biiiig shoulder roll, and then the look back like, why aren't you petting me right now?
Wood floor with a slightly chunky white cat with orange tabby splotches laying on his side like a beached whale
July 21, 2025 at 11:29 AM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Tonight we finally---finally---finished a draft of a write-up of all the wonderful things about this little man, who left us in January

It clocks in a little over 8K words

There are shorter journal articles
A black and white cat recliner in the to shelf of a cat condo, with sleepy eyes, one paw propped up like he's a conversationalist, another paw and his tail hanging over the side. The overall look is jaunty, handsome, and suave. Behind him are some big windows and through them, the flowers and shrubs of our back yard; it's a sunny day.
June 5, 2025 at 12:30 AM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
If I had a billion dollars, I'd invest in MOAR TRAINS

#amtrak
#wolverine351
Selfie with two people: Gina up close, Ellen in the back, in public transport seats and a window behind, scenery streaked because we're moving
May 21, 2025 at 12:05 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
So many warblers---soooo many---and carpets of trillium #SleepingBearDunes
A very funky looking trillium, I think---a close up of a three part variegated green and white flower A close up of the bloom of a jack in the pulpit---a cylindrical body with light green stripes and a flappy hood, with the preacher or stamina peeking out from underneath Close up of a regular trillium flower---a three-petal white flower
May 13, 2025 at 11:14 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Last year, around the start of November, I bought coping tulips, to the tune of about 250 bulbs, and furiously planted to get them all in before the hard frost

Now, it's a little better
Very close up of a salmon/peachy tulip head---you can see more out of focus in the background Very close up of a fluffy dark maroon tulip head---you can see more out of focus in the background Very close up of many white tulip heads---you can see more out of focus in the background Very close up of a dark brown to dark red tulip head
May 10, 2025 at 9:34 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Okay, so a fantastic day, part 2---I did not know this was coming, but the UM History undergraduate majors selected me for the Undergraduate Teaching Award 💛💙

Of the 70 or so graduating seniors, I was lucky enough to have 31 of them (!) in one class or another, and they really truly give me hope
On a stage, there are two people in regalia, one a student who is speaking at the mic, the other me, and you can see it in the picture but I am definitely crying
May 2, 2025 at 10:59 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
A fantastic day! I got to hood Caspian Goggin, who recently defended their dissertation, "Public Image and the Threat of Outside Eyes in Late Ancient Christianity"
Two people with broad smiles in academic regalia---Dr. Goggin wears the light blue robes of the University of Michigan and the laurel given to all graduates from the UM Classical Studies program
May 2, 2025 at 8:33 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Last little bit of Winter term
Printed papers,the top of of one says: History 308/Mideast 338/Religion 350 Final, 200 points (20% of course grade); another is titled "Readings list" and has the titles and authors of a whole lot of early Christian texts
April 30, 2025 at 9:21 PM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
No pets but here's a bread I made I'm really proud of
Close up shot of the crust of a sourdough bread loaf---the surface is caramelly-dark brown, but finely patterned with flour, craggy, looks satisfyingly crunchy
April 10, 2025 at 11:04 AM
emuehlbe.bsky.social
Super-niche ask, but: anyone got a set of the 2015 issues of JECS they want to offload? They should be green

You can see my problem in this photo
Bookshelf shot, with about 15 years of JECS volumes in a row. Where there should be a regular rotation of red-blue-purple-green-yellow, there is red-blue-purple-RED-yellow, because I have 2015 as a bound set and not individual issues
March 17, 2025 at 3:24 PM