(Guest post by Judy Juanita)

Flannery O’Connor is under attack, rightfully so, for her privately held racism and bigotry. Yet I love her work, which has mentored me mightily. I can distance from an artist’s despicable character flaws yet love their work. It happened with Death of a Salesman after news broke of Dustin Hoffman’s sexist treatment of a coworker during the play’s filming; a student asked me if I would stop teaching it. I have not removed it nor O’Connor from my course list. These works expose the human condition, the dilemmas of conscience and troubles of the soul that I need students to understand.