One of the hardest parts of being autistic is you learn to try to avoid attention. Because attention also brings light to the fact that you're on the spectrum and have a hard time with emotions, and social cues.

So, I grind. When I got praise cards for working at the boy scout camp, I stole a tradition from a group of LARPers I knew, and sealed the praise to the flame. I did good work because I was hired to do good work - anything less than my absolute best was a shame on myself, on my kith and kin, and on the camp I worked at. The problem with grinding and trying not to get noticed also means a couple of things. First, you don't learn how to accept a compliment. Because burning compliment cards and only taking into account the 'lessons learned' of the after action is a coping mechanism for someone who feels they aren't good enough.

Secondly, and more importantly in my current life , is that being unnoticed also means that people don't know they can go to your website and buy photos of their kids' sports that you've taken. This is a problem. And my editor, God bless her, decided to give me almost an inch and a half in her column about what I do for the paper, to-wit:

"Dave Mitchner joined the writing staff in 2025 and his connections with the athletic departments of all levels of sports has been valuable. Mitchner has enthusiastically, and at times colorfully, written descriptive accounts of sporting activities in Meade County. It helps enormously that Mitchner is also an umpire and has the opportunity to see sports play[ed] up close and personal."

I mean, I guess using the phrase, "Meade County molly-whomped the opposition" is colorful, I'm not sure what other colorful phrases she might be referring to. I'd have to go back through my archive and check. But that's not what this post is about.

I've found my love of writing sports. The Meade County Messenger, the paper I work for, is one of the last bastions of independent press in the state of Kentucky with conglomerates like Paxton Media and USA Today buying up the majority of other papers throughout our beloved Commonwealth. If your community still has a local paper, in print or e-edition only, you're a lot more fortunate than you know.

Love all ya'll. Be awesome and shit.