Neighborhood Partnerships is excited to welcome Rebekah Markillie as our new Housing Justice Organizer!
Originally from the high desert in eastern Washington, she moved to Portland in 2013 to attend the University of Portland where she studied rhetoric and graduated in 2017. Rebekah’s work background has primarily been in copywriting and developmental editing for nonfiction works. She leads several tenant organizations, grassroots campaigns for tenant rights and wants renters everywhere to recognize tenancy as a political position.
Rebekah writes essay and creative nonfiction. She also runs a small zine press, likes playing table top RPGs, board games and reads too many fantasy novels.
For starters, tell us a little about yourself.
Hi! I’m Rebekah. I make and publish zines about the self and connection and other tender topics. I love fanfiction. I read tarot. I play table top RPGs. I practice contemporary circus. I’ve logged well over 1,000 hours into Stardew Valley.
I organize tenants and I care about issues. I believe the highest form of humanity is just us hanging out with our buds.
Aries sun. Leo moon. Aquarius rising.
What area of expertise and interest do you have?
I spend a lot of time thinking about and experimenting with how to create change, how to enroll those with privilege into movement work and how to build resilient and liberatory collective work. In college, I studied rhetoric. I’m curious about how we can do persuasion that isn’t rooted in and doesn’t perpetuate violence and harm. Like, how do we do sales but revolutionary?
What does opportunity mean to you?
Opportunity is the place where possibility and agency meet. Opportunity is being able to both recognize new possibilities and act on them. There is an inherent subjectivity to possibility, and because of oppression, an inherent inequality to agency. As we work to undo systemic oppressions, unlearn the scarcity of capitalism and the violence of imperialism, patriarchy and white supremacy, we can create a world where opportunity is not precious.
What difference can financial security make for individuals in communities?
In our capitalist world, financial security means the ability for individuals and communities to meet their needs. Once needs are met, we flourish.
What’s your favorite quote?
I reject your reality and substitute my own. Adam Savage from Myth Busters.
Choose one author, living or dead, that you’d like to have dinner with.
I’d love to be dragged by Diogenes. But, for real, I’d ask Sally Rooney or Erin Morgenstern to dinner. I want to hear from Sally about how she thinks about character and motivation. And I want to hear from Erin about world building and atmosphere.
What are you looking forward to most about this position?
Literally all of it.