From the New York Times:

In April, Bruce Jenner spoke about her transition to woman in a television special that drew nearly 17 million viewers.

On Monday, that woman revealed her new identity, appearing as Caitlyn Jenner on the cover of Vanity Fair. The photograph of Ms. Jenner in a revealing outfit, shot by Annie Leibovitz and accompanied by the headline “Call Me Caitlyn,” immediately became a sensation on social media when the magazine posted the article online.

Ms. Jenner, 65, who won an Olympic gold medal in the decathlon, has had a long public life. As Bruce Jenner, she had been on the cover of Playgirl, an author, an actor and most recently a part of the Kardashian family’s reality television empire. Earlier this year, reports emerged that Bruce Jenner was in the process of becoming a woman.

The Vanity Fair article represents the latest in a carefully calibrated series of public steps by Ms. Jenner and her team, as she moves toward the debut of a new reality show on the E! network that will begin airing at the end of July, and a new public life as a woman. A Twitter account, in the name of Caitlyn Jenner, was started at the same time that the Vanity Fair article was published online. Within hours, the account had more than 1.1 million followers.

I salute her on many levels: for coming to terms with her identity and doing it in public.  She didn’t have to, and I am sure there are a lot of people who feel morally superior to everyone else who are sniffing and sighing about how Ms. Jenner just had to wave it under everyone’s nose — or to use their favorite Freudian-laden metaphor — ram it down their throats.  It’s truly sad that they can’t understand and celebrate the complexity of life.

Or perhaps they’re afraid of their own questions and feelings.  That’s not to say that every prude is repressing a part of their nature, but you have to wonder in a world where understanding who we are is a never-ending process of discovery, they would be so adamantly opposed to and threatened by the life of an absolute stranger.

By the way, and I mean this in the best way, my first reaction to the photo was how much she reminds me of Julie Newmar.

Meet Malala Yousafazi.

Who is Malala?” shouted the Taliban gunman who leapt onto a crowded bus in northwestern Pakistan two years ago, then fired a bullet into the head of Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old schoolgirl and outspoken activist.

That question has been answered many times since by Ms. Yousafzai herself, who survived her injuries and went on to become an impassioned advocate, global celebrity and, on Friday, the latest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize alongside the Indian child rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi.

Yet since that decisive gunshot in October 2012, Ms. Yousafzai and her compelling story have been reshaped by a range of powerful forces — often, though not always, for good — in ways that have left her straddling perilous fault lines of culture, politics and religion.

In Pakistan, conservatives assailed the schoolgirl as an unwitting pawn in an American-led assault. In the West, she came to embody the excesses of violent Islam, or was recruited by campaigners to raise money and awareness for their causes. Ms. Yousafzai, guided by her father and a public relations team, helped to transform that image herself, co-writing a best-selling memoir.

And now the Nobel Prize committee has provided a fresh twist on her story, recasting her as an envoy for South Asian peace.

Announcing the prize in Oslo on Friday, the committee chairman, Thorbjorn Jagland, said it was important for “a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism” — a resonant message in a week in which the Pakistani and Indian armies have exchanged shellfire across a disputed stretch of border, killing 20 villagers. But it was also a message that highlighted how far Ms. Yousafzai has come from her original incarnation as the schoolgirl who defied the Taliban and lived to tell the tale.

From Crooks & Liars:

Rhode Island Little League coach Dave Belisle delivered an incredibly inspirational and emotional speech to his Cumberland team after it was eliminated from the LLWS after an 8-7 loss to Chicago on Monday night.

I can so see my dad doing this.

Carl Kasell retires from NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me,” the radio news quiz.  Panelist Roxanne Roberts tells the story.

We knew Carl Kasell’s last taping of “Wait Wait . . . Don’t Tell Me” was going to be a big deal, which is so not Carl. After 16 years as official judge and scorekeeper of the NPR quiz show, and 60 years in radio, he wanted his last show to be just like any other.

As if. Sprinkled throughout the hour were tributes from Stephen Colbert, Tom Hanks, Katie Couric and President Obama, which caused the 80-year-old veteran newsman and the 1,800 people packed into the Warner Theatre on Thursday to get all verklempt.

The crowd, as they say, went wild. We are talking public radio fans, so that meant standing ovations and loud applause, not underwear tossed onstage. At the end of the taping, they politely mobbed Carl like he was Springsteen or the Pope, thrusting items both cute (a Carl plush doll) and mildly creepy (a Carl face pillow) at him for autographs. I’m pretty sure I saw a guy in the second row tattoo Carl’s name across his heart.

[…]

So House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, Sens. Dick Durbin, Jeff Flake and Kay Hagan all attended a tribute dinner for him Wednesday night, along with the “Wait Wait” family, former colleagues, NPR brass and even some of Carl’s pals from high school. Pelosi presented him with a flag that had been flown over the Capitol, besting (just barely) Durbin’s gift of Garrett’s famous Chicago popcorn.

The man of the hour was, characteristically modest. “Thank you so much,” he told the audience. “I’ve had so much fun. I enjoyed every moment of it.” But official retirement? Not so much. “What does it mean? Putting things aside, doing nothing? Are you kidding?” he said. “I can’t live that way. I’ve got to do something, somewhere, somehow.”

Carl is now officially “Wait Wait’s” Scorekeeper Emeritus, but will continue to record voice mail greetings for winners on the show. (He’s already done more than 2,000.) But — since we’re sharing here — you probably want to know whose voice is on Carl’s home answering machine.

His wife’s. Carl’s king of the castle, but Mary Ann is queen.

Best wishes.

Congratulations to all the winners.

FICTION

Donna Tartt

“The Goldfinch” (Little, Brown and Company)

Finalists: Philipp Meyer, “The Son” (Ecco) ; Bob Shacochis, “The Woman Who Lost Her Soul” (Atlantic Monthly Press)

DRAMA:

Annie Baker

“The Flick”

Finalists: Madeleine George, “The (Curious Case of the) Watson Intelligence”; Lisa Kron (book and lyrics), Jeanine Tesori (music), “Fun Home”

Missed it by this much.  (Assuming “this much” is a snowball’s chance in Hell.)

In musical theatre, there’s a tradition of having a song that really brings home the show.  It’s called the eleven o’clock number because it usually comes along at the climax, and that’s late in the second act.

In last night’s State of the Union speech, President Obama, like many of his predecessors, hit the high point when he acknowledged the service of Sgt. Cory Remsberg.

Standing ovation.