This one got complicated fast. We were supposed to dive into J.D. Salinger this week, but we couldn't even get to the actual reading without talking about the man—specifically, the deeply unsettling pattern of him grooming teenage girls.

So we went there: can you separate the art from the artist? Should you? And here's the thing—we didn't have all the answers, but we wanted to actually talk it through with each other instead of just landing on some neat position. Truth is usually messy. We got into whether engaging with art is a moral choice, what we owe ourselves as readers, how to sit with discomfort without needing to resolve it—and honestly, it mattered to us what each other thought about all of it. This is the kind of conversation where you learn something new about your partner, where their reasoning reveals something you hadn't considered, and that's part of why we wanted to have it out loud. It's uncomfortable territory, but that's kind of the point.

Get the book: Support your local bookstore or grab it through Bookshop.org link

Links from the Episode: CBS Sunday morning story: link

Photographers:

Carrie Mae Weems' Kitchen Table Series - link

Gordon Parks - link

Gregory Crewdson - link

Bill Cunningham - link

David LaChapelle - link

Additional Links: Joyce Maynard on her relationship with Salinger: link