author - oman observer

In demonstrating that she was much more than a pretty face, Marilyn Monroe, that glamorous doyenne of the 1950s movie set, once said, “I’m selfish, impatient, and a little insecure. I make...

“Innovation,” said Apple supremo Steve Jobs, “is the ability to see change as an opportunity, and not as a threat.” One Omani student has certainly demonstrated innovation, and a ‘can do,’...

Now and again we need to, if not celebrate, then engage in, frivolity. I just looked the word up in the dictionary: Frivolity, noun, ‘behaviour, not acting seriously.’ Genevieve de Stael-Holstein...

Text by Ray Petersen - Photos by Lena petersen - High above Al Hamra, on Jebel Hat, in the Dakhiliyah region, sits a very popular hotel and tourist destination, Shorfet Al Alamin — the balcony...

TEXT BY RAY PETERSEN PHOTOS BY LENA PETERSEN Equus Africanus Asinus is how they are known in the zoological world, and from that we can see why they are also sometimes referred to as an Ass. The...

Iranian poet, educator and scholar, Dr Mohammed Forouzani is something of a rarity in the Sultanate, given his passion for his literary genre, which has seen him recently begin work on his third...

Sorting out what’s important to us is such a challenge. Look at any stage of your life, at any time in your life, and look back on your life, and you will realise just how difficult it is to know,...

Oman-based photographer, Lena Petersen, sought a point of difference in her portrait photography. Recognizing that time stands still for none of us, and that we are all always looking for some new...

Charlie Puth, laments, “We don’t talk anymore, like we used to do.” According to Forbes magazine (the famous rich list one), “Millennials are texting more and talking less,” and that in...

That amazing star of classical music, Luciano Pavarotti, was once heard to say, “One of the nicest things about life is that we must regularly stop what we are doing, and devote our attention to...

Muscat, Oct 2 - The UK’s Royal Geographical Society will host the third annual Oman Natural Heritage Lecture in association with the Anglo-Omani Society at the RGS-IBG’s Ondaatje Theatre in London...

Samail born and raised, Dr Khalfan Hamed Al Harrasi’s first memories are of his Dad reading. “Dad never went to school in the same way I, and thousands of Omanis have since the renaissance, but he...

Oman is a lovely little oasis of ‘sense and sensibility’ within the region, so maybe we should evaluate the current emphasis on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) throughout the Sultanate. First,...

Patrick and Amber Tyrell are entrepreneurs inspired by their travels, and their life experiences. Now, sitting comfortably in their ‘off-the-grid’ homestead, in New Zealand’s Waitaki Valley,...

Because I have come to understand that making things illegal, that is, against the law, does not necessarily ensure that these things will be prevented or stopped, yet surely that is the complete and...

Raya al Sugheir Nasser Al Magiry, one of the new emerging breed of young Omani schoolteachers, has realized her dream of “becoming an effective classroom teacher,” her mother’s dream of her...

We see it everywhere we turn. Hearts, love and romance. Books, movies, television and our everyday interactions with others, in some way are shaped by the interactions we share with others. So, is it...

Like the raised hackles of the spine of an angry dragon, the Southern Alps of New Zealand’s South Island evoke fantasy and mysticism, not by what they do, but what they are, a magnificent geological...

Has progress come at too great a price? As the scourge of the two-headed monster that is plastic production assaults us daily, have we been so keen to embrace modernity that we could not in the past,...

Yes, in a way it’s a shame isn’t it, but things don’t just happen because we want them to, and work doesn’t get done if we don’t actually work at it. I say in a way, because there is an old...