That’s why women went to college, to get jobs. When I graduated from college it never would have occurred to me not to work. “Yes, you!” said another young mom as if I were a silly goose. “You’re just the person we need!” said the woman, a young mom. For the past month, the conference room had become auction central, abuzz with parent volunteers. How could I possibly know this? As I entered, the chic architect in charge of the restoration happened to be leading a tour. Large blindfolded pigs were lowered in on ropes to chew the chandelier free. It was found by the guys blowtorching blackberry vines out of the basement. When the restoration began in 2012, the big mystery was what had happened to the brass Art Deco chandelier from the early photos. The mosaic of Christ teaching children to pray required flying in a seventy-year-old craftsman from Ravenna, Italy. Colorado alabaster was cut paper-thin for the clerestory. One hundred and fifty rubber molds were created for the intricate plaster work. On the floor, in wood inlay, because strait is the gate and narrow is the path which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it, dated to 1906. Framed photos told the story of the building’s transformation from a home for wayward girls to a single-family residence (!) to today’s ruinously expensive private school.Ī little about the building’s restoration. I walked up the steps, between the thickset columns, and into the impressive foyer of the Galer Street School.

Semple is the author of This One Is Mine and Where'd You Go, Bernadette, which has been translated into eighteen languages. The following is from Maria Semple’s novel, Today Will be Different.

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple