Defender of Modena

The other day I was doing a bit of procrastinating, i.e., family genealogy research when I should've been doing something less interesting, and wrote a message to a SIG asking for advice. One of the responses I received was from a person who, before listing myriad articles they had written that were all unavailable to me, introduced themselves thus:

"Hello Mr F ...

Having consulted your blog, I presume that you mean that you are located in Modena, Italy, and not Modena, New York or Modena, Missouri, both in the United States of America. However, it would have been helpful if you would have indicated which; it is always best to think globally."

After thanking him politely for his response, I could not help but add a PS:

With a territory inhabited since the Iron Age, as a place defended by the father of Julius Caesar's assassin Brutus against a siege by Pompey, with a cathedral whose foundation stone was laid in 1099, and whose university was founded in 1175; not to mention being the home of balsamic vinegar, Luciano Pavarotti and Ferrari, do forgive me if I consider that Modena in Italy would come to mind first from a global perspective rather than the Modenas of NY, WI, IL, PA, UT, MO or the Eastern Cape of South Africa.

It was the exhortation to think globally that pushed me over the edge. I am a proud Modenese!