Since being introduced to chess at age six, Tanitoluwa “Tani” Adewumi has had one goal. He wants to become the world’s youngest-ever Grandmaster — the highest title a chess player can achieve. The record was then held by a Ukrainian chess player, who qualified for the title in 2002 at the age of 12 years and seven months.

On May 1, 2021, the now 10-year-old Tani came one step closer to achieving his dream by becoming America’s newest national chess master. The chess genius, who practices for up to 11 hours every day after school, says the secret to his success is thinking of his plays ahead of time. Tani said, “On a normal position, I can do up to 20 moves ahead of schedule.”

The now fifth-grader fell in love with chess in 2017 after being exposed to the basics by a part-time teacher at his elementary school in New York. However, his mother, Oluwatoyin, was reluctant to allow him to join the school’s chess club. The family of four, who came from Nigeria, were living in a homeless shelter and did not have extra funds to spare.

When Oluwatoyin explained the family’s situation to the chess club’s instructor, Russell Makofsky, he immediately decided to teach the young boy for free. Less than a year after joining the club, he had gained seven trophies (奖杯) and was ranked 27 in his age category. In 2019, the then eight-year-old, who was still living in a homeless shelter, made the national headlines when he defeated 73 competitors to win the New York State Chess K-3 Championship. His achievement went viral (传播开来) and a GoFundMe campaign, set up by Makofsky, helped raise enough funds for Tani and his family to move into their own home.

Tani’s path was documented in a book. The book is currently being adapted for the big screen. We wonder if Tani will get to play himself in the movie!

Canadian singer and song writer, Alanis Morissette, is used to being in the public eye. Her most famous album(专辑)Jagged Little Pill, came out in 1995 when she was only twenty-one years old. It sold 15 million copies and made her world famous. Since then she has made several more albums and she has continued giving great performances on stage.

Last Thursday night, hundreds of fans went to the Corn Exchange in Cambridge, England to see Alanis Morissette performing in concert. It was Morissette's first performance in England since her song "Uninvited" won this year's Grammy Award for the best rock song. The 30-year-old singer has a strong fan base in England. There was not an empty seat anywhere in the concert hall at last Thursday's event, although it was an extremely cold night. “Sure it's cold outside, but I hope we'll warm it up in here for you”, Morissette said to the large crowd before she started to play.

During the 3-hour concert, Morissette used a lot of material from her award-winning album "Jagged Little Pill". She also played a few songs from her new album, such as "Everything But…”, which tells the story of someone looking for love in the wrong places. Morissette gave a creative and powerful performance in another song “Utopia”. Her singing was full of feelings; the first part of the song was filled with anger, while the last part expressed love and joy.

Although the concert hall was cold and the sound system caused a few problems, the audience could still enjoy the concert. Many people in the crowd were obviously long-time fans and they knew the words and sang along to nearly every song throughout the concert. The atmosphere inside the concert hall was extremely exciting. Everyone agreed that they were greatly impressed by Morissette's brilliant music and sing.

At the end of the three hours, Morissette showed that she was a true performer, singing a well-known song “Heartache”. She finished the evening with a new song about the life of a superstar. While I watched and listened, I knew that I was seeing the performance of a real superstar.

Two-time cancer survivor Tracy Pepper has developed an unlikely friendship — with a beautiful butterfly, which she called Fluffy.

Ms. Pepper found Fluffy in her garden struggling for life soon after birth. After feeding it on honey from a sunflower, Fluffy recovered but didn’t regain the use of its wings and has remained with Ms. Pepper ever since.

She has been recording the experience on social media. In one post, she wrote, “I’m the crazy butterfly lady! I just spent 3 hours playing with him, exercising him by walking him up and down my fingers and arms, feeding him and even giving him the feeling of flying! He sat on my hand and beat his wings as I moved my hand up and down pretending he was flying!”

Ms. Pepper said it was sympathy and empathy that drove her. After battling against cancer twice and keeping herself busy with aid work in Africa, she fell into a “depression” last year.

“When I found him helpless and unable to fly, I knew just how he felt. I went through burn-out last year. I wanted to give up… I felt really lonely.”

So she decided to help the insect, to which she has become attached. Ms. Pepper even advertised tickets of internationally-famous Cirque du Soleil’s act she had for sale because she thought staying at home to care for Fluffy was more important.

Unfortunately, Fluffy wouldn’t be around for long — the lifespan of a butterfly ranges from two to six weeks.

But she seemed to care little about it. She wrote on Facebook, “He has a wonderful life and when his time comes, he will die flat and happy and very very loved.”