Together with Trephine photography I have comprised a series of interviews appropriately called “Cape Town’s 20 something dreamers”. The series features up-and-coming 20 something’s born and bred Capetonians that are living and loving an everyday dream that some of us might call jobs.

To welcome you back to the site we have new thoughts to share and a very important event!

Click here to find out more information about the Summer Solstice event that everyone should be supporting. To find out about how it came into being, read Elizabeth’s Story.

After that take a look at the new articles in The Globetrotter section. Maybe we’ll inspire you so send in a contribution of your own!

Chat soon (and we’ll try not to disappear on you again).

The Soapbox Team

Six THREE STORIES exhibitions now showing:

The T shirt show
One night only
The letter A in the color blue
Paper Girl-SA
Chapter Two:”Friends”
The Bin R250 show
Venue:  IN THE ART SPACE until 14th August
ART SPACE opening hours:
Thurday to Saturday
10h30 to 16h30
For more see:
http://www.a-word-of-art.co.za/exhibitions/

35th anniversary of die Afrikaanse Taalmuseum en -monument (Afrikaans Language Museum and Monument) in Paarl

Festival programme:

14 August: Open Day at the Taalmuseum.
1 September: Opening of a new exhibition on early written Afrikaans at the Taalmuseum.
23 September: Creative writing sessions
24 September: The Taalmuseum’s annual “Ommietafel met Stories” Production
26-28 October: A course in book repair and paper conservation
For more info, call (021) 872 3441 or visit www.taalmonument.co.za

City of Photos at the 12th Encounters South African International Documentary Festival

Director: Nishtha Jain
India 2005
75min

City of Photos takes you into the grubby photo shacks of India. One would expect something of an ID photo industry; instead we see a rich culture of a nation observing itself. Surprisingly, this is not only done in the context of vanity, but also in front of history. Subjects pose, poised before painted backdrops depicting natural disasters and some human ones that are universally familiar and horrifying. The unassuming cinematography beautifully juxtapositions portraits from over the centuries next to real lives, and is quietly narrated by the writer/director. If you are a professional or an amateur photographer the film will be a delight to your ambitions. For everybody else the story is something that is irrefutable in any life – an honest examination of how humans observe their lives and how even the most humble grapple for immortality of some kind in this manner.

Venue: Nu Metro, V&A
Date: Monday, 16 August2010
Time: 6.30pm – 7.45pm
Venue: Labia on Orange
Date: Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Time: 8.30pm – 9.45pm.
Booking Information
TICKET PRICE: R39.00 (R31.00 for bookings of more than 20 tickets)
V&A Nu Metro
For information and bookings: 0861 CINEMA / 0861 246 362 / www.numetro.co.za or on your mobile @m.numetro.co.za

Labia on Orange
Tickets available at both the venue and from Computicket. Buy online at www.computicket.com, or call 083 915 8000, or visit any Computicket outlet at Shoprite / Checkers.
For more info www.encounters.co.za

In Politics & Society, Hylton Taylor applies an engineer’s scepticism to global warming and the BP oil spill.

Our style columnist reports on London’s Fashion Week in her latest dispatch for What Kate Did, our regular roundup of fashion.

Akanyang Merementsi reviews the conman caper I Love You Phillip Morris in Life & Culture.

In our Creative Corner, check out Premilla Murcott’s poem, “What it Means to Look White?” as well as her self-portrait.

Our travel editor, Sarah Laurence, shares news about hippie tree planters from her base in Canada on her column The Globetrotter, and also gives the low-down on moving overseas. In the Creative Corner, also check out her photo essay on sun-kissed Cuba.

Share your comments on each post, or join the conversation in our Facebook group. You can email contributions to contribute(at)thesoapbox.fm.

Happy reading!

Read Tania Colyn’s take on the new Fugard Theatre’s latest play – The Train Driver — by the theatre’s namesake in Life & Culture.

Feel like some politics? Let Hlanganani Gumbi convince you why we should fight to preserve our democracy. Or, in our Creative Corner, allow Juanel Van Der Walt’s poster to “touch you on your studio“.

And when it’s time to escape, run away to New York with Sarah Laurence’s insider guide.

Lastly, keep fashion fabulous with your latest dose of fashion skinner.

Enjoy it!

It’s hard to believe how quickly it’s gone, but then time flies when you’re having fun. And what fun it’s been! The past 12 months has seen the launch of two new columns — What Kate Did and The Globetrotter. We’ve also introduced a whole new category — the Creative Corner — where Soapboxers are able to creatively express themselves. At the same time, we’ve continued to provide a platform for political debate in our Politics & Society category, as well as offer great cultural coverage in Life & Culture.

It’s time to celebrate! Let’s drink to a year of standing up and speaking out: please join us at 8pm on Monday 26 April at Neighbourhood in Cape Town’s Long Street.

RSVP on our birthday’s Facebook event page.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

We also have some very exciting news — we will soon be launching a new category on The Soapbox called “Creative Corner” which will showcase creative work, including poems and short stories (of less than 1000 words). Pictures and videos will also be considered. Pop through ideas and contributions to contributor [at] thesoapbox [dot] fm .

Don’t forget about our special birthday gift offer — every contributor featured between 15 February and the end of March will receive a box of Panda Global Protection antivirus worth R500!

Our contributing editor Lara Moses exposes Hermanus’s dark side with a shocking story of drunken brutality and police complicity. Jade Adami recalls her time in deepest darkest London, and discusses what lured her home. Alex Matthews, The Soapbox editor, writes about the DA’s Young Leaders’ Programme.

In a very exciting development, we launched our new fashion and lifestyle column written by our undercover columnist “Green Eyes”. It’s called What Kate Did and is a must-read.

Don’t forget our first Soapbox Session next Wednesday (7 October).

Rhoda Kadalie, the renowned human rights activist and controversial columnist, will be a guest for the first ever Soapbox Session Q&A at the Open Innovation Studio.

Rhoda, who has exposed corruption and scandals in her Business Day column, will be answering questions about politics, the elections, human rights, the ANC… and the questions she’ll be asked will be submitted from The Soapbox’s readers and contributors.

So, got a burning question to ask Rhoda? Send it to editor [at] thesopabox [dot] fm

Please join us on the 7th. It’s 5.30pm for 6; there’ll be a few snacks and drinks — and the cover charge is only R10 (to cover costs).

You can RSVP on Facebook by visiting our event page.

Place: Open Innovation Studio — 2nd floor, 27 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town

Time: 5.30 for 6. We will be finished at around 7.

Date: 7 October 2009

Cost: R10

See you there. In the meantime, happy reading!

Rhoda, who has exposed corruption and scandals in her Business Day column, will be answering questions about politics, the elections, human rights, the ANC… and the questions she’ll be asked will be submitted from The Soapbox’s readers and contributors.

So, got a burning question to ask Rhoda? Send it to editor [at] thesopabox [dot] fm

Please join us on the 7th. It’s 5.30pm for 6; there’ll be a few snacks and drinks — and the cover charge is only R10 (to cover costs).

You can RSVP on Facebook by visiting our event page.

Place: Open Innovation Studio — 2nd floor, 27 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town

Time: 5.30 for 6. We will be finished at around 7.

Date: 7 October 2009

Cost: R10

It’s going to be awesome!

In our Life & Culture section, Craig Prinsloo explored the moon’s impact on humans and our contributing editor, Lara Moses, reviewed the Grahamstown festival.

In The World View column, San Francisco-based blogger Charles Lemos looked at Nigeria’s growing Islamism while Khaya Dlanga waded into the  Caster Semenya controversy in The Guest Column.

We hope you enjoy this roundup of fresh views and voices. And we encourage you to speak out yourself: contributions can be submitted here.

Happy reading!