Welcome. It’s getting lighter earlier here in New York, daylight overeager to begin the day, like many of us lately. It’s May 1 tomorrow, the weekend again, deep into a springtime “tinged by mourning and exhaustion,” even as it promises more opportunities to get together with people we’ve been missing.
Here are some good ideas for what to do this weekend, together or apart.
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James Ijames’s “Fat Ham” is “a queer, Black ‘Hamlet’” set at a Southern barbecue restaurant. The critic Jesse Green calls it “hilarious yet profound.” You can get tickets to watch a recording on demand any time until May 23.
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Like the music critic Seth Colter Walls, you may not have “been walloped by symphonic forces in a live setting” in quite some time. Seth has selected four albums of “bracing orchestral music” by young British composers from the label NMC to tide everyone over. Have a listen.
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Check out 10 classical concerts to stream in May, including a recital of Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis and Evgeny Kissin at Washington Performing Arts that attempts “to evoke Jewish life in Eastern Europe before the world wars.”
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Read Julia Moskin’s account of “faked ingredients, sexual harassment and an abusive kitchen” at a century-old inn on an island 100 miles north of Seattle.
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“Girl, Wash Your Timeline,” by Katherine Rosman, is riveting too. It’s about the motivational speaker and author Rachel Hollis and the strange territory influencers end up negotiating when they become wealthy and decidedly less relatable to the audiences that enabled their success.
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Among this week’s new books that we recommend: a story collection from Haruki Murakami and Annette Gordon-Reed’s series of short essays, “On Juneteenth.”
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“The shroud of secrecy around women’s intimate bodily functions is among the many reasons experts cite for the lack of public knowledge about women’s health in midlife,” writes Jessica Grose, in “Why Is Perimenopause Still Such a Mystery?” To demystify it a bit, we have a guide to recognizing its symptoms.
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Feeling a little claustrophobic these past several months? You might be tempted to relocate to Northwest Arkansas. Perhaps $10,000 and a free bicycle will sweeten the deal.
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Tell us.
How can we help you make the transition — gradually, carefully — from at home to back out in the world? What do you need to continue leading a full and cultured life, both at home and away from it, in this in-between time? Drop us a line: athome@nytimes.com. Include your full name and location. We’re At Home. We’ll read every letter sent. More ideas for the weekend appear below.