LDM100: San Diego

October 12, 2010 — An electric night in America's Finest City — at the peerlessly named El Take It Easy — finished fantastically with Big Lonesome author Jim Ruland outdrawing short storyteller specialist Jess Jollett 2-0 to claim San Diego's second-ever LDM crown. 

But before the first Sharpie was wielded, the night began with So Say We All's executive director Justin Hudnall reeling off a splendidly-told tale about his Alzheimer's stung grandfather, followed by Jollett who wowed with her story about playing high school basketball with a coach that called himself Dougie Fresh. 

The mic was then handed over to the cast of all-star judges, that featured funnyman Dallas McLaughlin (from Nickelodeon's Yo! Gabba Gabba), musician-turned-comic Allison Gill, and comedian-of-mass-hilarity Rajan Dharni, who gently chastised Hudnall's TGI Friday's waiter look, and praised Jollett's wingspan. After a difficult deliberation, Jollett was announced the night's first finalist. 

Then came round two, that pitted Fictionaut rep Andy Roe against Ruland. Roe was fantastic, reading a story about a boyfriend trying to solve his girlfriend's upset, but then came Ruland who told a Navy tale that included the night's homerun moment — that will forever be known as the you-had-to-be-there "meatfucking incident." The judges were turned to, and while they praised Roe's cunning for complaining about his story by using fictional tactics, it was Ruland who won the day, with his deft writing and meat fornication suggestions. 

Then LDM creator Todd Zuniga — hosting barefoot, which better matched his white suit — introduced the finale, in which the three judges were to each be drawn in 20 seconds or less by Jollett and Ruland. A random group of volunteers then judged the merit of the art, with Ruland taking the first two rounds, and claiming victory — by a 2-0 margin — and winning literary immortality. 

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