2B - Thursday, December 8, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 2B - Thursday, December 8, 2011 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom FOOD WARS Each week, one Ann Arbor staple menu item becomes a battlefield as Daily Arts editors butt heads over which restaurant makes it best. HAMBURGER BLIMPY BURGER 551 South Division Street Know that unsophisticated, awesome satisfaction that comes when a delectable beef patty slides down the throat? The guys eating at Blimpy sure as hell do. What makes Blimpy Blimpy is the meat. Tender, earthy, juicy and weirdly cleansing, the beef ties together the entire burger and adds the classic home-cooked touch that makes the food addictively good. QUICKIE BURGER 800 South State Street All in all, Quickie's hamburger can be summed up in one word: solid. There are no bells and whistles, no tricks up sleeves, no flashy accoutrements. But when you're stumbling home at 2 a.m. on a Friday night and the scent of grilling burger meat wafts your way, what more could you really ask for? Nothing more and nothing less. SAVA'S 211 South State Street A Sava's burger is like a friend who has just come back from a semester abroad: fashion-forward, but bogged down in flaunting it. The actual beef, vegetables and burger sauce are good but not great. But that doesn't matter, as they aren't the focal point. The brioche bun dominates the vision and the tastebuds, leaving you thinking, "Man, that bread was good!" FIVE GUYS 311 South State Street Five Guys is a DC staple, an apology for the backroom politics that infect the country. Despite its franchised nature, the burgers are obviously freshly made - hot, juicy and piled with a ton of diverse (and 100-percent free!) toppings. They're super messy to eat, but surprisingly cheap. Also, their staff doesn't treat you like shit. And the winner is: FIVE GUYS Artrain has brought art to more than 850 communities across the country. Art stays on Derailment doesn't ous Americans view themselves - was originally supposed to be stop Ann Arbor- a mobile show, but was forced to forgo the MMUs due to financial based Artrain concerns. Currently stationed at Keene State College in New By KATIE STEEN Hampshire, the project will soon DailyArts Writer be moved to the University of Maryland University College in While University students may Adelphi, where it will remain enjoy artwork by simply strolling until April 2012. down State Street and encounter- While a main part of Artrain's ing Orion - hello, giant orange mission is moving artistic and statue - not all cities are able to cultural exhibits to communities so readily enjoy arts and culture. that otherwise would not be able That's where Artrain comes in. to host such displays, the "Infinite Artrain is an Ann Arbor-based Mirror" diverges from this goal nonprofit organization that given the artwork is stationary transports cultural exhibitions to for prolonged periods of time and communities around the nation is being shown at already-estab- that lack facilities like museums. lished artcgalleries. Artrain has featured collections "Today, we're open to mobile including the works of Andy projects, but they remain expen- Warhol and Luis Jimnez, and sive and the economy has still not it has made more than 850 com- returned to such a point where munity visits all over the country, it's easy to provide projects of a from Royal Oak, Mich. to Alaska. million dollars or more," Polich The organization's mission is the explained. "If we don't use mobile deliverance of arts and culture facilities, what are our other to places that may not otherwise options? Can we define delivery have such exhibitions in order to differently than just on a mobile educate and transform commu- vehicle?" nities, organizations and indi- For Artrain's "Paths to Peace: viduals. a War of 1812 Arts Legacy Proj- Artrain was founded in 1971 ect," the organization used a by E. Ray Scott, an arts advocate method of delivery that was nei- and former executive director ther by train nor MMU. In Octo- of the Michigan Council for the ber, "Paths to Peace" brought Arts. What started as a short- 150 students from Amherstberg, term statewide project gradu- Ontario by boat to Put-in-Bay, ally grew into the full-fledged Ohio to meet 150 local students. organization Artrain is today. During their seminar, the stu- Though the exhibits were origi- dents worked with War of 1812 nally transported via locomotive, specialists from Canada and the museum-on-a-train officially the U.S. in artist workshops. retired in 2007 due to increased The students are now working regulations and demands on the on a project in which they cre- rail system. Additionally, railway ate their own artwork related routes and schedules restricted to their communities' ties to-the Artrain's ability to travel to cer- War of 1812. tain communities. In addressing In May, the students will again these obstacles, Debra Polich, meet at Fort Malden in Canada Artrain president and CEO, said and the Perry's Victory and Inter- the Artrain team engaged in some national Peace Memorial at Put- significant self-reflection. in-Bay to display their artwork to "Does our mission have any- the general public. In this man- thing to do with the train? No," ner, "Paths to Peace" exempli- Polich said. "Our mission really fies Artran's goal of serving as a has to do with taking arts and "community catalyst" in that it culture to communities that don't works to connect communities to have it, and helping them develop not only the artwork, but to one and strengthen their (artistic and another. cultural) infrastructure." "We hope what we're doing In 20Q8, the organization left with that is opening these young the iron horses behind and began people's minds to exploring a con- transitioning to MMUs, which flict from three perspectives - are expandable semi-trailers able Canada's, Native Americans' and to create environments appropri- ours," Polich said. "There's always ate for hosting original artwork another point of view." and artifacts. But while in the Though Artrain had to alter process of switching to MMUs, its programming in recent years, Polich explained quite frankly, the MMUs aren't gathering dust. "The worldblew up. The economy Artrain plans to use the mobile crashed ... and it set us back on our museum for its 2012 "Hands-On heels quite a bit." Alternative Energy Exhibition." As a result, Artrain's goal of Historically the focus has been "delivering discovery" has some- on transporting artwork specifi- what suffered. Its current proj- cally, but the organization has ect, "Infinite Mirror: Images of recently emphasized deliver- American Identity" - an exhi- ing a wider range of projects. bition that focuses on how vari- Its 2012 "Hands-On Alternative Make Friends -: 215S. state rUSSOA.CL E ann arbor L EE track Energy" exhibition will lack art- work entirely - Polich.explained the education component of the exhibition is what makes it still relevant to the mission of Artrain. "The intention is to provide as much access to kids, their fami- lies (and) adults that generally might not take part in a cultural experience," she said. "Taking art projects to these towns is great but there are other types of muse- ums that these communities don't have either, like science, cultural or history museums." In moving such programs around, Artrain has received assistance from members of the University community. 'U' alum Jason Polan traveled with the organization back in its train days as part of the Allesee Fel- lowship, a program offered to recent college graduates. An art- ist himself, Polan spent about a year touring, including a trip all the way up to Alaska, performing avariety of duties such as prepar- ing exhibits, helping with volun- teer training and creating and discussing artwork to students in classrooms. While on tour, Polan also worked on his project, the "Taco Bell Drawing Club," which essen- tially involves drawing people at Taco Bell and inviting others to draw with him. He continues the club today, citing Arrain as an influence. "A lot of the positive reactions I got to the projects I was working on made what I was doing then affect the way I do things now," Polan said. "I still like doing proj- ects where I get to interact with a lot of people." Artrain has inspired college students on the administration end as well. 'U' alum Nathan Zamarron also traveled with Artrain, working as an admin- istrative assistant while still in school and then accepting a full- time position as office manager upon graduation. After spending three years on the road, Zamarron described his experience with Artrain as amaz- ing and inspiring for the com- munities he visited and himself. Zamarron attributes Artrain to helping him find his career path in administration and community organization in the arts. He now works as community arts man- ager for the Lexington, Ky. arts council, LexArts. "That experience of really get- ting to see first-hand the living working artist was something special," Zamarron said. "You could find out that, wow, there are people actually making a living supportingthemselves in the arts. Artrain made me realize that that was a possibility." And Zamarron certainly isn't the only one who thinks Artrain is special. The many unusual artistic opportunities Artrain has created have earned the organiza- tion nationwide recognition. In 2006, it won the National Medal for Museum and Library Service, which honors organizations that make extraordinary changes in the community. In response to the medal and all it represents, Polich expressed her pride and confi- dence in Artrain's future. "Having Artrain's work acknowledged in that way was very validating in every single way," Polich said. Polich added that the organi- zation still looks to the award for guidance, despite all of the chang- es that have occurred since. "We're still pretty humbled by it. It makes you want to continue to live up to that standard." 0 S 0 0 ALSO LIKES FIVE GUYS. Learn more about him and 0 r-, _ m m o USm s hamburgers in this week's B-Side Buzz at 8 4 9 6 2 5 michigandaily. __ _ __ __ _ __com. ( LITTLE the musical a Department of Musical Theatre studio production Music by Jason Howland " Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein Book by Allan Knee " Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott Dec. 8 at 7:30 PM " Dec. 9 & 10 at 8 PM " Dec. 10 & 11 at 2 PM " Arthur Miller Theatre ft General Admission $17 e Students $10 w/ID IMusic,Theatre&Dance League Ticket Office 9 734-764-2538 " tickets.music.umich.edu 0 0