It's not everyday that you hear about a newspaper rising from the ashes. Today, however, we got wind that the New City Collegian, a paper produced by a group of student volunteers from the Seattle Community College District, will be in print later today.

Sponsored by a generous donation from Cupcake Royale (they're not saying how much), the all-volunteer staff is busy making their first issue. The issue will be 12 pages long, with a circulation of 1,000 copies, but the biggest news here is that it is happening at all.

Four years ago, Seattle Central Community College cut their journalism department, and with it the 42-year-old City Collegian.

Sebastian Garrett-Singh, who is the current Executive Editor of the New City Collegian, says that the paper is publishing writing from any SCCD student who submits it. Currently, there's no periodical schedule (that is, they don't know when another issue may hit the streets). Garrett-Singh also couldn't specify how or who the paper would receive funding when the initial Cupcake Royale angel investment runs out.

The paper, although billed as an "alternative," won't be run by an "activist group," Garrett-Singh said. One reason for this might be that the paper paper is planning to approach SCCC for funding in the fall. But some of the posts on the website, however, seem a little "activist-y," including this expletive-packed clip called "Guns Don't Kill People...Wait a Minute, Yes They Do!"

And in this day and age, publishing a student newspaper—whether it's neutral or not—is a form of activism. Thanks to slashed higher-education budgets, a dying publishing industry, and liberal arts perpetually on the chopping block, it takes some radical gumption to revive what was once a baseline program on nearly every college campus. Let's hope it lasts.