Ashima Shukla

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What we must confront: Living with Long COVID

Ashima Shukla December 18, 2025

The first winter of the pandemic, I was in Shanghai visiting my family when the first news reports began circulating — something about a new pneumonia, a city in lockdown. Within days, my family and I had boarded a flight to India, seeking temporary refuge. Three days before our flight back, India closed its borders. Airports emptied. Around the world, our lives shrank to the size of our homes. For millions around the world, it meant grieving in isolation, watching suffering multiply. It meant exposure to the deep inequities of our world, where access to safety, care, and health depended…

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A young man is smiling, raising both of his hands up in the air. He seems to be lifted up by the crowd around him, who are also dancing. The setting is a banquet hall, and a TV in the background has a bright gold sign displayed on it, though the words are illegible.
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Indian Student Federation’s Diwali brings students and families together

Ashima Shukla November 11, 2025

On October 10, SFU’s Indian Student Federation (ISF) hosted a Diwali celebration at Crown Palace Banquet Hall in Surrey. The event, held in collaboration with the Simon Fraser Student Society (SFSS), featured live dance performances, Indian cuisine, and a dance…

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An Earth globe, with a focus on Latin America. There are floating musical instruments around the globe. With a deep purple background.
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Latin music is integral to our playlists

Ashima Shukla November 11, 2025

I was first introduced to Latin music in grade nine, when I began studying Spanish. Somewhere between the syncopated percussion, rhythmic guitar strums, and magnetic vocals, I fell in love with the music. Around that time, “Despacito,” by Luis Fonsi…

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A headshot of Sarah Law behind a bookshelf.
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SFYou: Sarah Law

Ashima Shukla November 11, 2025

A recent SFU graduate with a master’s of arts in sociology, Sarah Law currently works as the director of community engagement of the feminist science and technology lab Doing STS. She is also an organizing member of the research society…

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An illustration of a closeup of a group of cleaning workers gathered at a table sharing Indian dishes.
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Remembering Kulbir Kaila

Petra Chase November 10, 2025

Interview and translations by: Ashima Shukla, Staff Writer Kulbir Kaila worked at SFU for 17 years. On July 28, she died at the age of 61 while working a cleaning shift on the Burnaby campus. Many of her co-workers never…

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Two people standing side by side, speaking to one another. Speech emerges from them. One person says “Hello! How are you?” in capital letters, while the other says “Fine, thank you” in italics.
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The myth of a “correct” English keeps us policing ourselves

Ashima Shukla November 10, 2025

When my family moved out of India a decade ago, I landed in an American school in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It was a bizarre reality to comprehend: students with MacBooks connecting to Apple TV projectors in air-conditioned classrooms, while rickshaw drivers…

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This is a photo of a lone cleaning equipment cart at the end of a hallway at SFU.
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SFU cleaning worker dies during shift, amplifying long-standing calls to improve working conditions

Hannah Fraser and Ashima Shukla November 10, 2025

Since 2020, Contract Worker Justice (CWJ) @SFU has been leading the push for better working conditions at the university.  At the heart of the coalition’s rallies, events, and research is a demand that SFU directly employ its cleaning staff, rather…

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This is a photo of a folk music festival scene
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We are the folk: the 48th Vancouver Folk Music Festival returns to Jericho Beach

Ashima Shukla July 17, 2025

From July 18–20, the salt-kissed shores of ʔəy̓alməxʷ / Iy̓ál̓mexw (Jericho Beach Park) will become a living, breathing experiment in togetherness — a place where folk music exists not merely as a genre but as a way of being —…

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This is an illustration of the Fairy Creek protests showing protestors standing face to face against the police
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Despair and devotion: a review of Fairy Creek

Ashima Shukla July 15, 2025

The year is 2025, and the world is in chaos: marked by economic instability, growing authoritarianism, ecological collapse, and an ongoing global erosion of human rights. In this moment, Fairy Creek arrives not just as a documentary but as an…

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This is a shot of a row of people’s laps. Several people are holding a notebook and taking notes, while one person in the back is holding their phone.
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SFPIRG’s Organizer School builds grassroots power through political education

Ashima Shukla July 14, 2025

Simon Fraser Public Interest Research Group (SFPIRG) is currently hosting Organizer School, a 10-week political education program that focuses “on the theory and practice of political organizing and mass movement building.” The program takes place weekly at the SFPIRG lounge…

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