Margaret Seiler helps keep Portland Monthly clear, readable, and grammatically correct. She also writes about local politics, history, sports (from the Thorns to Tonya Harding), and her hobby of extreme transit. The native Kentuckian landed in Oregon after youth-hostelling her way around the continent (before cell phones!) and worked at Willamette Week and the Portland Tribune before joining Portland Monthly in 2010. She lives in North Portland with her brewer husband and their two children.

House Party

Choose Your Quarantine House, Portland

OK, we’ll do this, too.

04/25/2020 By Margaret Seiler and Portland Monthly Staff

Voting Time

A Handy, Quick Guide to Local Candidates in the May 19 Primary

Coronavirus hasn't canceled the upcoming vote.

04/24/2020 By Margaret Seiler and Julia Silverman

Interiors

Local Companies See Interest Surge in Home Office Furniture

When you don’t gotta go to work, work, work, but you gotta put in work, work, work.

04/24/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Politics

With Oregon’s Closed Primaries, Nonaffiliated Voters Have a Much Shorter Ballot

Nearly a million registered voters won’t be able to cast a vote for president or their state rep in May—unless they choose a party by April 28.

04/21/2020 By Margaret Seiler

S’mores Beat

Summer Camp Is in Limbo, Just Like Everything Else

Will it be “Kumbaya” around a virtual campfire this year?

04/14/2020 By Margaret Seiler

How We’re Coping

This Blues Guitarist Feels Lucky to Have Family, a Pension, and Bacon Bread

Taking a forced break from performing, Norman Sylvester is sharing music and doing push-ups at 74.

04/11/2020 By Margaret Seiler

PDX Index

The Thorns Soccer Diaspora: All They Are Is Dust in the Wind

Where all my ladies at?

04/11/2020 By Margaret Seiler

How We’re Coping

For the DJs at KMHD Jazz Radio, the Show Must Go On

Creating his shows in a home studio, Derek Smith says listeners can still count on the station for uplift and hope.

04/07/2020 By Margaret Seiler

How We’re Coping

This Portland Thorn Played through Australia’s Fires. Then the US Soccer Season Got Put on Hold.

The only teammates Simone Charley has seen so far this year are her two roommates.

04/04/2020 By Margaret Seiler

good hoods

Portland Hoods You Should Know

It's the best time to buy in years. Where should you be looking to spend your money and why?

04/01/2020 By Ben Tepler, Conner Reed, Julia Silverman, Margaret Seiler, and Kyle Sosa

Panic Buying

Is the Country Running Out of Flour?

No, mills assure us. Keep calm and bake on, Portland.

03/27/2020 By Margaret Seiler

How We’re Coping

We Tried a Socially Distant Impromptu Block Party

It felt good to see other humans. We’re going to try it every day.

03/18/2020 By Margaret Seiler

How We’re Coping

Coronavirus Brings a ‘New Normal’ for Local Campaigns

Primary candidates for the Oregon House pivot to phone banks, digital meet-ups, and just checking in.

03/17/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Politics

Super Tuesday’s Cool and All, but Oregon’s Late Primary Has Its Perks

We miss out on the excitement, but we also skip some of the disappointments.

03/03/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Books

Q&A: Film Director and Novelist John Sayles

Before his February 27 appearance at Powell’s, the writer talks about Dickens, Dickinson, and his favorite Scottish thrillers.

02/26/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Sing King

Why Did Mobile Karaoke King Baby Ketten Put Down Roots?

Convenience, mostly. And community.

02/25/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Something Old, Something New

How the Lombard House Became an Instant St. Johns Institution

A bar of the people, by the people.

02/25/2020 By Margaret Seiler

Hostel Takeover

Want to Sleep with Strangers? Here’s a Handy Guide.

The modern hostel has come a long way, baby.

02/25/2020 By Margaret Seiler

THE SHAKEDOWN

What’s the Deal with the Portland Timbers?

The upsides and downsides of the city’s men’s soccer team, whose 10th MLS season begins on March 1.

02/25/2020 By Marty Patail and Margaret Seiler

TV Nostalgia

Happy Twin Peaks Day, Portland!

February 24, 1989, marked the end of Laura Palmer and the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

02/24/2020 By Margaret Seiler