Attempting to write a Boidem column after more than five years of not writing one presents an interesting challenge. To a certain extent, I've forgotten how to do it. Partially I've forgotten technical aspects - how to create, and then link to, a new page, or link back to the page that new page came from, without blotting out the original page - for instance. But I've also lost contact with the parameters of the associations I've set for myself here: When is a parenthetical snippet enough, and what deserves (or demands) a page unto itself? As I write this I find myself asking "is this consistent with what I established as 'Boidem style' writing?", but also, "does it matter?".

As if that's not enough, there's an additional problem. Other than letters (though admittedly lots of them) almost all of my writing over the past five years has been in Hebrew, and though I'm fluent in both languages, each carries its own associative baggage. That baggage didn't get lost somewhere in transit, but to a certain extent it contains a very different wardrobe than the one I've been wearing for the past number of years. So I have to try some of these old clothes on again, hopefully discovering that they still fit.