“It is remembering how powerful the word ‘system’ made us grad students feel, how it tricked us into imagining locations and targets, pillars we could smash, wires we could cut. It is arriving at the proper sense of wonder at the atmosphere we once called ‘the system.’ It is being told over the phone that you have won an award and finally getting that metaphor (‘the system’), finally grasping, after all these years, that change is more cunning than we were prepared for, that change is as gentle as the snow falling faintly onto the surface of the lake outside while we wait for the server to bring the bill.”
– Kevin Birmingham
The Simile Museum 