Greatest Hits: The Best of Des

Yesterday, in the Chatham neighbourhood on the South Side of Chicago, for one hour the most important thing in the whole world was that the fish hadn't arrived.

When Mrs. Georgetta Wraggs, fifth grade teacher at the Burnside Scholastic Academy, was nominated by one of her students' parents for Jones New York's In The Classroom program, she said that she wanted an aquarium for her kids if she won the "Back to School... Back to Style" contest (prize: complete makeover of the winning teacher's classroom by Trading Spaces interior designer Laurie Smith and the Home Depot). Mrs. Wraggs won, and the unveiling of room 303 was scheduled for 3pm. At 2.04pm, an empty fish tank sat in its spot on the newly-built bookshelf.

Burnside is a school like any other on the South Side. When you pull up in the morning in a nice-looking bigger car, next to the playground across the street, the kids playing Double Dodge with a jump rope start and make as if to run, yelling that you're the police. There's a metal detector as you walk in and inspirational posters and murals of Dr. Martin Luther King and Michael Jordan. There's very little budget in the summertime, so the assistant principal's niece is answering the phones.

You walk down hallways of classrooms painted standard issue pale blue, metal racks of yellowing books and a globe which has a country called the USSR on it. Then you get to room 303 and Team Home Depot has painted it squash yellow, installed new blinds, put up cheery stripy drapery, built new bookshelves, hung up a new map (Russia, Ukraine, Latvia, etc.), varnished the wooden floor and amongst other things, filled a bowl full of apples for Mrs. Wraggs. Laurie Smith, home makeover reality TV star, flutters about, straightening cushions 5.6 degrees counter-clockwise and being interviewed by the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Citizen-News, ABC and CBS as she waltzes around the room.

At 2.37pm, the fish arrived! Oh, how everyone broke into smiles again as bags of goldfish and neon tetras passed through several hands waiting to unravel the rubber band on top and pour them into the tank. The fishes blinked as they darted about in their new home. Because, you know, they were gonna be on TV.

At 3pm, Mrs. Wraggs was led into her new classroom and she stood speechless at the door, her hand grasping Laurie's, her mouth open and her eyes full of tears. The press snapped away, the reporters had their pens above notebooks waiting for Mrs. Wraggs to say something good. She said, "I'm speechless," and tried to swallow back her tears. Then she said, "Thank you... the kids are going to have a great year. I want to say more, but I can't... so thank you, thank you everyone." And she walked around the room, and fingered all the new, happy school furniture and supplies and her family and friends and school officials hugged her. One school official in a white straw hat and purple suit poked the photographer form the Sun-Times and made him promise to take a good picture for the paper.

So, Jones New York got its media coverage, Mrs. Wraggs got a brand new wardrobe and a new classroom, and I got free pizza, bagels and chocolate chip cookies for working this event. I was happy, but I guess pizza, bagels and chocolate chip cookies have got nothing on a bunch of fifth-graders who can't wait to come back to school.