Indeterminacy 167

Mr. Romanoff is in the mushroom class.
He is a pharmacist
and takes color slides of the fungi
we find. It was he
who picked up a mushroom I brought to
the first meeting of the class at the
New School, smelled it,
and said, “Has
anyone perfumed this mushroom?” Lois
Long said, “I don’t think
so.” With each plant Mr. Romanoff’s
pleasure is, as one might
say, like that of a child.
(However,
now and then children come on the
field trips and they don’t
show particular delight over what is
found. They try
to attract attention to themselves.)
Mr. Romanoff
said the other day,
“Life is the sum total of all the
little things that happen.”
Mr. Nearing smiled.

- John Cage