Liza’s journey from modelling to acting and finally to writing and poetry. How she ended up becoming a poetry teacher at Riker’s “Island School.” Seeing the realities of mass incarceration first-hand. Why the 16-17 year olds in her Riker’s class took her teaching. Becoming awake to the prison-industrial complex, and then sharing it with Riker’s students. Riker’s a cautionary threat for NY adolescence. Why adolescents all go crazy at some point. On Riker’s getting shut down.

Liza’s play, The Peculiar Patriot, out in September at the National Black Theater.