Between Lands Learning to read the culture you're in
Feb 28, 2026
Lisa Maloma, a writer and public defender in the Estuaries community, reads courtroom moments and reflects on grace and limits of aid. The conversation explores reading culture at different scales. They discuss prophetic, God-centered engagement, signs that reveal a workplace culture, and how art and language can make the familiar strange.
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Public Defender's Moment With A Client Facing Deportation
- Lisa Maloma recounts sitting across from an undocumented client who will be deported after 20 years despite no criminal history.
- He'd returned to Mexico to hold his dying mother, worked factories and farms, and promised to pray for Lisa even after his plea.
Small Actions Participate In Larger Cultural Ecologies
- Culture operates at multiple scales: national values trickle down into institutions like schools or firms.
- Small-scale actions in a specific ecology (e.g., an architecture school) participate in and reproduce larger cultural forces.
Prophetic Engagement Versus Polished Conformity
- Prophetic engagement means diagnosing a culture and living as a sign of the kingdom rather than merely imitating worldly success with better character.
- Many Christians produce fruit but lack skills to read culture and thus reproduce the same systems they inhabit.
