Alberto Salazar on duty. (M.N.K.)

A superhero tattoo sketch merging a masked Mexican wrestler head with American eagle wings hangs at the Mission’s Tribus Vivas Dermafilia. It’s brought luck and bucks to the 2-year-old tattoo and piercing shop.

“It is a sample of something unique we are offering, a Latino style mixed with American and Asian styles,” said Wilson Posada, the owner-cum-tattoo and piercing artist of Dermafilia. “And so far it works.”

Posada said that despite the recession, he remained upbeat about the future of Dermafilia, which means love for the skin. The 32-year-old Mexican immigrant attributed his optimism to the store’s special style, the quality of their tattoos and piercings, and the way they’ve explored new styles and built a friendship with customers.

As other examples of their style, he pointed to sketches hanging from the front of the shop to the back that include the face of a Caucasian girl with a geisha hairstyle, and a Mexican tiger with a skull for a head that sits on top of an Aztec pyramid with a wave inspired by a Japanese tsunami in the background. (more…)

Few businesses in the Mission go as far back as 1926, but Erie Auto-Truck , named for the street where it first resided, does.

“Erie might be one of the oldest surviving companies in the Mission,” said 53-year-old owner Ray Cashman on a recent Tuesday.

“And we never changed. It’s still a car and truck repair.”

He attributed the repair shop’s endurance to good, honest service and his father’s long-ago decision to buy land in the Mission District.

His father, Eugene Cashman, bought the repair shop in 1955 and moved it to 17th and Harrison streets for 11 years before he was able to buy land nearby on 18th and Harrison.

“My father developed this auto repair very well. [He] bought land on 18th Street in 1966 from the profit, constructed a building, and moved the business here,” he said, adding that he began to work part-time with his father in 1969 at age 14.

Erie now occupies a 5,000-square-foot building on the corner of 18th and Harrison streets, enough space to repair some 10 multipurpose vans at once. More open-air space adjoins the front of the building. (more…)

Young Indonesian students at the University of California Berkeley understand that having those letters after your name as an alumnus creates a buzz back home, but still they’d rather work abroad after graduating.

They are studying in one of the world’s best universities, they argue, and their parents have invested a lot of money in their education. They face the greatest work opportunities in developed countries.

“My best option is to work in the information technology industries in Silicon Valley, California, just as other UC Berkeley computer science graduates usually do,” said Shendy Kurnia, a final-year computer science student from Surabaya. “I have got used to the international challenges in here.” (more…)

The men behind the Mission’s ice cream carts said they need strong feet, patience, a friendly face, and a wary eye to watch for street crime. Oh, and they need sun.

“If there is a sun like today, we go,” said 62-year-old Ramiero Gutierrez as he waited on a recent Wednesday for customers on the corner of Mission and 23rd Streets.

Gutierrez, one of some 30 men working for Oakland’s El Michoacano ice cream supplier, began his day as he usually does at 10:15 a.m. in the supplier’s storehouse at 2342 International Boulevard, Oakland.

In the 2000-square-foot room, dozens of ice cream men moved ice cream bars from three big tanks to the little pushcarts they will walk behind in places like the Mission District and nearby Oakland and Richmond.

Twenty minutes later, Gutierrez and six other men were off to board a van for the Mission. (more…)

The merchandise of cheap underwear, hot plates, sweaters and socks spills over into the sidewalks of Mission Street for five full blocks south of 24th Street.

Dozens of discount stores line the five compact blocks. Green, yellow and blue awnings shout in colored lettering: Mega Trading, Win Yen Co., Long Power Trading Co., Golden Plaza Trading Co.. One right after another, nearly a dozen crowd one block between 23 and 24 Streets.

For years, the discount stores, a slice of Asia cut into the mostly Latin America neighborhood, have competed successfully for residents looking for a deal. But with business down and rents up, they now share two similarities, joked one of the owners.

RETAILERS IN MISSION: A pedestrian walks past A.C. Trading CO, a retailer selling inexpensive Asian merchandises on Mission Street, while another store, M&W, stands just after the next two shops. (Moch N. Kurniawan)

“First, the stuff, and second, the sales decline,” said Philip Lee, the owner of Golden Plaza. (more…)

Linknya aja ya dari story text pertamaku di website di san francisco,

http://tinyurl. com/66mll7

Serunya story ini karena aku keluar dari comfort zone Indonesiaku. Biasanya kan aku nulis tentang Indonesia, meski dalam bahasa Inggris. (more…)

One thing for certain: the Central Bank is confused what is going on. They asked around what happened with rupiah, trying to find some answers. Wow!  Now they might be confused again when actually the Indonesian economy is not strong. Once rupiah drops too much, prices will up - cars, houses, electronic, meat, gasoline - because of our dependence on import, then the economy will collapse. It doesn’t have to be a genius to understand that right. (more…)

A closer look at the Rp 500 subsidized fuel price cut.

What is the meaning of the cut?

For motorcyclist, Rp 5,500 per liter means that they will spend Rp 286,000 per month  to travel from Depok/Bekasi/Tangerang to Jakarta for work vice versa. Motorcyclists are able to save Rp 26,000 per month. Rp 26,000 means the person could eat for one day or two if there is no prices increased. (more…)

While some 250 million people speak the Indonesian language, the Bahasa Indonesia is often misconceived as unimportant.

Indonesian people may also think the same thing.

However, top U.S. universities, including the University of California (UC) Berkeley, continue to offer Indonesian language courses — proof that the language is in fact quite influential. (more…)

MIN ZIN: (JP/Moch. N. Kurniawan)

When applying for his masters degree at the University of California (UC) Berkeley this year, Min Zin, a 35-year-old Burmese dissident, encountered a big problem.

He had never finished high school.

Min Zin was kicked out of high school in Burma (now Myanmar) in 1988 for his political involvement against the military junta.

After this, Min Zin had gone into hiding to avoid arrest until 1997 before fleeing overseas where he worked as a journalist for years, voicing democracy for the Burmese people. (more…)