Being a Bryn Mawr student I was intrigued while reading this because it realted to me. It made me wonder what kind of community that I want to surround me while at Bryn Mawr and life in general. I agree with having a manadtory seminar for first years, because they might see imperfections of the Bryn Mawr community that the upperclassmen have became accustomed to. Additionally, I never stopped to think that people would be offended by christmas lights because I just see them as decorations, but its not like that for everyone. Now I have a better understanding of the importance of being aware of cultural differences in my community.

Nkechi is assigned to a shadow a villager who tells her that she doesn’t like to be with “people who look like you”

I really enjoyed reading slipping because of all the personal student stories. It was interesting to see how certain contraversial events affected students and to think about how they would affect me. When I read the short segment on the raising of the confederate flag along with the pride flag, I was confused. While some aspects of the culture differ, I would have thought that she would have a greater respect for the Byrn Mawr Community and those who would be affected by the hanging of a confederate flag in common spaces. I wish that I could have heard more about her thoughts and her justifications for hanging the flag. I thought the way the story was told was very engaging and I found it very interesting to read. 

After reading chapter eight of "slipping", I began to realize that people would rather say nothing than allow their "tongues to slip", in the wake of change. Someone once told me, and I have also come to realize this on my own that not everyone is subsecptible to change, and not everyone wants to see things differently than they have always known it. Page 273 shows a moment in which the author tries to make sense of the use of and a connection between the confederate flag, and the affect Chritmas lights had on a student. Theres a sayig that says "a drunk man never tells no lies." This is the perfect example of an unconscious slip of the tonue.

For Reference

While reading the chapter entitled "Slipping," the emotion that I felt most prevalently was surprise. Of course, I had seen confederate flags while driving throughout the south, but never could I have imagined that two women at an institution for higher education felt it was okay to hang up that flag. 

Discontinuity and comfort zone are two words that come to my mind as I read the article "Slipping into Somehting More Comfortable".

We've all told to step out of our comfort zone, and we've all told the benefit of doing so, however, we cannot change the fact that staying in the comfort zone is the less energy-consuming state of our mind. We tend to stay in our comfort zone. We are relunctant to move. Most of times, we are unaware of the fact that we are still staying in our comfort zone. That is probably the same as "slipping into something more comfortable" - we like comfortable. 

While reading the assigned chapter, entitled “Slipping,” what struck me most was a quote lifted from a piece written by a student, Emily Elstad. In her essay, Elstad brought to readers’ attention a prolific point, as she observed that “sometimes only by slipping and falling to the floor do we notice that there is something down there that needs to be cleaned up” (Emily Elstad). This insightful comment caused me to re-think my own mistakes, and why it is important to make them. Whenever I make a mistake, I find myself thinking “you’re better than that.” I chastise myself for making a human error, when I know, deep down, that making mistakes and falling down is one of the best ways to learn.

Overall I really enjoyed "Slipping."  One part that I found interesting was the way the differnt Jewish students reacted to the Christmas lights in the room.  I was a little surpirsied that one of the girls was offended by the lights being up.  I have never thought of festive lights as overpowering because they do not represent the religious side of the holiday, only the happy, party side to it.  I am Jewish and I do not celebrate Christmas, but it still makes me feel good to see Christmas lights and listen to holiday songs.  I like to think of all of that as winter festivities and I enjoy that time of the year even though I have no real connection to the holiday.