Occupier of the Day: Leah Miller

Name: Leah Miller

Age: 22

Occupation: Student, medical biller and self-employed pet sitter

Tenure at Occupy Portland: Since day one

Otherwise lives in: Northeast Portland

Favorite Theologian: Paulo Freire

Why she’s Occupying Portland: “[Freire’s] views on education and the banking system are really what brought me here.”

Her contribution to the camp:  Miller set up a desk made out of cardboard boxes 20 minutes after the march ended last Thursday and it's grown into a workshop, library and collection of meeting tents in Lownsdale Square.

She's very excited about the yurt that serves as an internal affairs brain trust. “It’s a strategy and outreach center for people to discuss issues pertaining to the occupation. It’s a safe place for people to express their opinions, issues, concerns and ideas,” she says. The library, printing station and workshops, that include classes on "technology DIY," "creative activism" and "community economics," are open to everyone.

She was born and raised in Portland. Miller’s parents are part of the infamous "1 percent," the nation's wealthy targeted by the movement, but she says her mother’s liberal views had a huge impact on her. And her travels China, Venezuela and Mexico “opened my eyes to the suffering caused by governmental corruption and corporate greed.”

“I believe what I’m doing here now is far more important than what I’m doing in the classroom,” says Miller. She changed her major at Portland State University from pre-veterinarian to liberal studies, she says, when she “realized being a vet wouldn’t do much for the future of the improvement of the paradigm.”