My fourth grade teacher was memorable for being gorgeous-looking with a fiery Italian temper. The curriculum was boring to begin with and like many here on HN I

My fourth grade teacher was memorable for being gorgeous-looking with a fiery Italian temper. The curriculum was boring to begin with and like many here on HN I was precociously bright, which made it even more boring, so there wasn't much to do all day but study her instead. When her annoyance reached a boiling point, which I learned to predict a few minutes in advance, her manner would shift abruptly between one sentence and the next, and she'd be stroppy with everyone for the rest of the day with no chance of redemption. However, if a colleague came to the classroom door to talk about something, she would be perfectly polite and pleasant mannered until the moment the door closed. I was amazed to see such a perfect effortlessly executed context switch with no preparation and presumably no training on her part. Can all women do that and are they in better control of their emotions than they'd have us believe? She gave my young mind loads of food for thought.