Weekly Reading: The Plague in Mada, Christianity, Writing at large, Getting Kids into College, Downs PSA, a total eclipse of AFRICOM and Mandatory FAO reading

Doing some catch-up posting after a long weekly reading hiatus. Now that I am back stateside, I hope to bring back this regular column.


The plague, alive and well in Madagascar
Yup--we keep it old school here on the Red Island

Why is Christianity the right religion?
I always enjoy hearing from Ravi Zacharias

From HBR to Mashable: How to Be a Guest Writer on 11 Popular Sites
Great reference doc for budding writerpreneurs!

Olivia Wilde stars in powerful PSA for World Down Syndrome Day
My wonderful uncle Dutch has down syndrome and this PSA is a great one that shows people with down syndrome are not to be pitied.

Advice College Admissions Officers Give Their Own Kids
Storing this one way for ten years from now.  The article contains a wide swath of advice from admissions officers at different universities.

Why the US needs AFRICOM
...and I need you more than ever...it's a total eclipse of the heart!  Sorry, where was I.  Some good soundbites for your next argument.

How Not to Make Disciples (Francis Chan Video)
Chan keeps it real and real funny.

Getting to Si, Ja, Oui, Hai, and Da
This is an incredible read.  I put in on my FAO (Foreign Area Officer) Mandatory Reading List/PQS page for good reason.  The author breaks down the myriad ways negotiations or relationship often break down across different cultures.  Absolutely vital reading for anyone working in cultures outside the US.

Janitor Felt Invisible Until One Changed His Life
Feel good story about common decency amongst the oft-maligned millenial generation.

What I Read Last Week: A Rwandan survivor finds her voice, RSVPs, Grammar, Tragedy at Sea and Salter Sets Sail

Now that my WIRLW is kind of a thing--I want to further delineate the trove of links and articles with the Best Thing I Read All Week (BTIRAW).  The WIRL column is useful for me because I read so many articles every week but previously had no repository (aside from the Evernote notebook I created online).  Finally, for me it's a good analytical exercise to condense what I read into a short sentence or two.

BTIRAW:
Everything is Yours, Everything is Not Yours
Powerful autobiographical #longread about Rwandan genocide flee-er turned wandering refugee turned Yale student turned young woman who found her voice.   Her story casts aside any easy categorizations of her struggle and journey.  I found myself checking the cursor on the right side of my IPAD screen to see how much of the article I had left--I didn't want it to end.  For someone who admits struggling with her English writing--she is superb.  Incidentally, this story is published on medium.com which in Comoros (where I am right now) you can't access without using a VPN.

Les Autres:

The Aspirational R.S.V.P.: Saying Yes When You Mean No
I've found this to be especially true in Madagascar--especially when you invite a counterpart and his/her spouse to an event--they will almost always reply yes for both people but then only one shows up.  Personally, I think the idea of an aspirational RSVP is juvenile and rubbish.

Michael Gove is instructing his civil servants on grammar
Hilarious.  All English majors dream of having a position from which we can dictate our very own 'elements of style'

This is Sometimes More Important Than Praying
A good reality check and warning against religion (versus love for God).

Why Books by Soldiers Matter So Much Right Now
A nice plug from Men's Journal.  I previously wrote about two of the books he mentions (Redeployment and Preparation for the Next Life) here, here, and here.

Incoming: Floating Bases Are an Old Idea Whose Time May Have Come Again
Stavridis--the writing machine plugs ideas for Afloat Staging Base and highlights opportunities for public-private partnership.

Unheeded Warnings THE NAVY IGNORED YEARS OF ALARMING REPORTS — AND TWO PILOTS PAID THE PRICE
A lengthy Navy Times investigation into the tragic mishap that occurred at my old squadron HS-6.  It highlights that facts that aviation squadrons can write HAZREPs till they are blue in the face but if SWOs aren't required to read them it is often all for nought.

James Salter, a ‘Writer’s Writer’ Short on Sales but Long on Acclaim, Dies at 90
One of my favorite writers that I only discovered this past year.  I've written about this author several times--despite some philosophical/moral differences I am sad that his reign within the realm of the written word has passed.
What we read in 2014
A Sport and a Pastime Kindle Notes and Highlights
All That Is Kindle Notes and Highlights
Light Years: Kindle Highlights and Notes
Last Night by James Salter: My Notes and Kindle Highlights
Burning the Days: My Notes and Kindle Highlights

Grad School Notes Collection (Africa, IR, Ethnic Conflict, Economics, Writing)

IMPORTANT NOTE: DON'T CHEAT. DON'T PLAGIARIZE. Notes and Papers are shared here for reference and for studying. Footnote as appropriate.

Grad School Notes Collection (Africa, IR, Ethnic Conflict, Economics, Writing, Islam, Comparative Politics)

Below are the links to all the notes I have previously published here on FUUO.  They are organized into a few areas: Africa, IR, Islam

AFRICA:

Notes (Discussion) Iliffe’s Africans: The History of a Continent

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/notes-of-iliffes-africans-history-of.html

Notes (Extensive) on Iliffe's Africans

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/grad-schol-extensive-notes-on-iliffes.html

Notes (Partial) on Paul Nugent’s Africa Since Independence

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/07/grad-school-partial-notes-on-paul.html

Notes and Summary: Achebe's Arrow of God

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/07/grad-school-notes-and-summary-on.html

Notes (Discussion) and Summary: Achebe's Arrow of God

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/01/arrow-of-god-notes.html

Notes (Discussion) and Summary Anthills of the Savannah 

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/04/anthills-of-savannah-discussion-notes.html

Notes (Discussion) and Summary: Achebe's Man of the People

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/disclaimer-these-are-my-notes-that-i.html

Notes (Discussion) and Summary: Achebe's No Longer At Ease

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/no-longer-at-ease-notes.html

Notes (Discussion) and Summary: Achebe's Things Fall Apart

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/01/things-fall-apart-notes.html

Notes on Rye Barcott's It Happened on the Way to War

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2011/07/notes-on-barcotts-it-happened-on-way-to.html

Notes/Summary (Partial) on Getting Somalia Wrong: Faith, War, and Hope in a Shattered State by Mary Harper (her blog is GREAT)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/12/gettingsomaliawrong.notes.summary.maryharper.html

Notes on Hartley's The Zanzibar Chest

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/thezanzibarchest.aidenhartley.summary.review.notes.html

Notes on Democratization in Africa (Ottaway, Joseph, Bratton & Walle)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/democratization.africa.huntingtonisandiot.html

Notes on African Judicial Systems (Akech, Von Doepp, Suberu)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/african.judiciary.akech.vondoepp.suberu.notessummary.html

Notes on Clientelist State-Society Relations(Barkan, Fatton, Pitcher et al)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/clientstatesociety.barkan.fatton.pitcher.sparknotes.html

Notes on African Elections as Vehicles for Change by Nic Cheeseman

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/10/alternation.africa.politics.elections.cliffnotes.fao.html

Notes on Patrimonialism in Africa (Theobald, Bach, Pitcher and Moran)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/10/patrimonialism.africa.bach.theobald.pitcher.sparknotes.html

Notes (Brief) and Discussion Questions on Bradbury's Becoming Somaliland

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/10/bradbury-becomingsomaliland-sparknotes.html

Notes (Partial) on Gallab's The First Islamist Republic 

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/10/sudan-islamistrepublic-gallab-sparknotes.html

Notes (Brief) on O'Kane and Hepner's  Biopolitics, Militarism, and Development: Eritrea in the Twenty-first Century 

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/09/biopoliticsertireasomaliaokane.html

Notes for Debate Arguing that Counter-Piracy HAS been effective in the Horn of Africa

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/06/counter-piracy-has-been-effective-in.html

Paper on Libyan Coalition/Intervention

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/04/libya-coalition-to-what-end-and.html

Paper reviewing and analyzing "Sometimes in April"

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/03/i-wrote-earlier-footnoted-version-of.html

Paper (Average Grade) on British and French Colonial Legacies in West Africa
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/07/essay-on-british-and-french-legacies-in.html

Paper on the Unexpected Pattern of Democratization in Africa
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-pattern-of-democratization-in-africa.html

Paper on Copts in Egypt: A Wedding Feast for Copts and Christians
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/09/copticchristianegyptembassycairo.html

Poem: The Guilt of the Silent: An Analysis of Raoul Peck's "Sometimes in April"

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/guilt-of-silent-analysis-of-raoul-pecks.html

Endnotes for Sometimes in April/Rwanda Genocide Analysis Paper

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/02/sometimes-in-april-analysis-paper.html

EVENTS:

Notes from 2010 Maritime Safety and Security Conference "African Maritime Interests: Security and Development" Plenary Session 1

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/10/mss-conference-african-maritime.html

Notes from MSS Conference Speech by Ambassador Huddleston Speech

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/10/mss-conference-ambassador-huddleston.html

Notes from MSS Conference Speech by Ambassador Carson

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/10/mss-conference-speech-by-ambassador.html

MSS Conference Keynote Speech by AU Deputy Chairman Dr. Mwencha

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/10/mss-conference-keynote-speech-by-au.html

Notes on Senator Isakson's Speech at SAIS on 31 March 2011

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2011/04/senator-isaksons-speech-at-sais-from-31.html

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS:

Notes for entire IR Course

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/09/entire-notes-for-grad-school.html

Notes for Chapter 12 from Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Challenges of Our Time

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/notes-on-force-and-statecraft-chapter-12.html

Notes on Selected Chapters of Force and Statecraft by Lauren, Craig and George

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/notes-on-selected-chapters-of-force-and.html

Notes (1st four chapters) on Nye's Understanding International Conflicts: An Introduction to Theory and History (7th Edition)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/notes-on-nyes-understanding.html

Notes on Power and Levels of Analysis
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/ir-notes-on-power-and-levels-of-analysis.html

Notes on Mearsheimer and Walt's "An Unnecessary War"
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/notes-on-mearsheimer-and-walts.html

Notes on Stephen Walt's The Relationship between theory and policy in IR, 2005
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/notes-on-relationship-between-theory.html

Notes on Stephen Walt's "IR: One World, Many Theories" (1998)
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/notes-on-stephen-walts-ir-one-world.html

Paragraph on Libya as a Case Study in Developing a Democracy from Scratch
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/libya-as-case-study-in-difficulty-of.html

Paragraph on Twitter as the New Nuke and the Convergence with Technology
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/twitter-as-new-nuke-and-convergence.html

Pargraph on The Dangers of Half-Hearted IR Policy Implementation
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/on-dangers-of-half-hearted-ir-policy.html

Paper on Considerations for a US Response to an Alien Communication Signal
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/thoughts-on-us-response-to-alien-signal.html

WRITING:

How to do a Literature Review

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/09/literaturereviewhowto-nps.html

In Praise of Refworks--The Best Reference Management Tool?

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/09/in-praise-of-refworks-best-reference.html

How to Write an A+ Paper in Grad School

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/how-to-write-a-paper-in-grad-school.html

Paper (presentation) on the importance of revision

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/03/on-revising-well-or-taking-ax-to-your.html 

ETHNIC CONFLICT:

Notes on "The Enduring Power of Ethnic Nationalism" (2008) by Muller

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-enduring-power-of-ethnic.html

Notes on “From a Theory of Relative Economic Deprivation (RED) Towards a Theory of Relative Political Deprivation”  by Walker Connor (2001)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/theory-of-relative-political.html

Notes on Genocide in Syria and Harff's "No Lessons Learned from the Holocaust"
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/08/genocide-in-syria-early-warning-systems.html

ECONOMICS:

Notes on Kraska's The Freakonomics of Maritime Piracy

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/freakonomics.maritimepiracy.africa.html

Notes on Have and Have Nots-African Style by Pascal Zachary

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/ginicoefficient.africa.haveandhavenots.html

Notes on Economic Geography of Regional Integration (Gill &Deichmann)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/notes-on-economic-geography-of-regional.html

Notes on "Nigeria’s Shot at Redemption" by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Dec 2008)

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/11/nigeriaoilcurse.needfordistributionalfund.html

Notes on "Africa's Capitalist Revolution by Kapstein (July 2009)
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2013/01/notes.africacapitalism.revolution.kapstein.html

ISLAM: 

Notes on Origins of Islam

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/10/origins-of-islam-notes.html

COMPARATIVE POLITICS:

Notes on Social Theory and Comparative Politics (CP) by Mark Lichbach

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/04/grad-school-notes-on-social-theory-and.html

VIETNAM/DECISION-MAKING:

Paper on the Gulf of Tonkin: "The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: A Response to Which Campaign?"

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/09/johnsongulfoftonkinvietnammatterhorn.html

All you ever wanted to know about the Gulf of Tonkin, President Johnson and the Joint Chiefs

BONUS LINK:  My entire (so far) grad school notes collection can be found here. 

All you ever wanted to know about the Gulf of Tonkin, President Johnson and the Joint Chiefs.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: A Response to Which Campaign?

        A few days after announcing to the American public that North Vietnam had attacked the United States a second time in the Gulf of Tonkin, President Lyndon Baines Johnson remarked to the most vocal opponent of his administration’s policy in Vietnam, undersecretary of state George Ball, “Hell, those damn, stupid sailors were just shooting at flying fish.”1 This statement not only reflected Johnson’s doubt that the 4 August 1964 attacks occurred, but also showed his confidence at having the full support of all but two members of Congress for any further action he might take. This cavalier
treatment of the military’s intelligence failure, however, was a manifestation of his marked disassociation of foreign policy decision-making from military analysis. Flawed intelligence—amplified by a weak Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)—enabled Johnson to wield the 4 August attacks to win Congress’ full support for future military measures and to ensure his own election victory in November 1964. Throughout his first year, the president only used military intelligence and counsel selectively to support his domestic agenda. He discounted the advice from his ambassador to the Republic of Vietnam (former JCS Chairman Maxwell Taylor) and the Joint Chiefs when it ran contrary toSecretary of Defense Robert McNamara’s strategy. The events leading to the Southeast Asia Joint Resolution (commonly called the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) on 7 August illustrate well LBJ’s foreign policy decision-making methods absent military guidance, as well as their wide-reaching effects.

The rest of my paper is below.


While we are on the subject of Vietnam, if you haven't read Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes, you MUST.  The best book ever written about Vietnam in my definitive opinion.

LINKS:
http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2010/06/incredible-must-read-matterhorn-by-karl.html

In Praise of Refworks--The Best Reference Management Tool?

BONUS LINK:  My entire (so far) grad school notes collection can be found here. 

In Praise of Refworks

Do you have a favorite program that you use to manage your references?  Before coming to grad school I never thought twice about this.  Truthfully, I didn't think twice about it for my first two quarters.  I didn't have too many papers to write-and the ones that I did write were on varied topics.

Now that I am finishing my third quarter, I have become an unabashed believer in the absolute need for some system--any system really--to keep track of your references.

For me that answer has been RefWorks.  I will admit, my initial motivation to use it was that it is free from NPS students (and alumni I might add--if you were a student here, you can contact alumni affairs and they can make sure you are set up to maintain your use of library research capabilities).  But I researched EndNotes as well, and while I see its merits, ultimately the cloud capability of RefWorks is what sold me (although I understand that EndNote X6--the latest version--has incorporated a cloud capability too).

The feature in RefWorks that will provide me with the most long term utility though are the USER FIELDS for each reference that you add to your library.  I paste my notes for each reference into this field.  This gives me the ability to find an essay or article that I read from years ago through a keyword search in the program.  I often will remember that I read about an idea somewhere but won't be able to recall the exact article--that problem no longer exists.

As I plan on writing for the rest of my life (to include books one day), the benefits of this RefWorks will continue to grow as my research does.

What Reference Management System do you use and why?  

Writing Tips from Previous Blog Posts:

How to Write an A+ Paper

My Personal Editing Checklist

On Revising Well or “Taking the ax to your work” or “Getting the words right”

101 Writing Tips from Famous Authors

BTIRAM:Vinjamuri on the the Indie vs. Mainstream publishing throwdown

Best Thing I Read All Month (BTIRAM) or F is For Foot in Your Mouth

The article Publishing Is Broken, We're Drowning In Indie Books - And That's A Good Thing by David Vinjamuri (@dvinjamuri)  is the best thing I have read all month.  

As a former English major, I love these types of pieces--I crave them--I keep the them open on a tab in my Chrome browser and read and reread them all month when I am bored in class.  

Vinjamuri writes beautifully and clearly about the tension between Indie and Mainstream publishing.  He also exposes what a jerk best-selling author Sue Grafton is.  About Indie authors she said:

To me, it seems disrespectful…that a ‘wannabe’ assumes it’s all so easy s/he can put out a ‘published novel’ without bothering to read, study, or do the research. … Self-publishing is a short cut and I don’t believe in short cuts when it comes to the arts. I compare self-publishing to a student managing to conquer Five Easy Pieces on the piano and then wondering if s/he’s ready to be booked into Carnegie Hall.

That quote alone is enough to ensure I never pay to read a word Grafton writes.  Not that it will affect her, I know, but I will consider it my small part to strike back against pompous authors that make imprecise, illogical and inane comparisons.  

If you are undecided on the merits of Indie publishing, might I suggest you start here with Hugh Howey's gripping novel (series) Wool.  

F is For Foot in Your Mouth by Sue Grafton

PAST BITRAMs:

Gunpowder and Lead on Islamism

LINKS:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidvinjamuri/2012/08/15/publishing-is-broken-were-drowning-in-indie-books-and-thats-a-good-thing/print/

http://blogs.forbes.com/davidvinjamuri/

http://fuuo.blogspot.com/2012/07/gunpowder-and-lead-on-islamism-best.html

Wool Omnibus Edition (Wool 1 - 5)

A Poem: How Does One Measure Sadness?

Updated 30 MAY 2012
I wrote this poem today (it's a work in progress, with more verses to come), inspired by someone with whom I was in a discussion on Twitter (@FAOFUUO) who said: "There has been worse things that happened to other humans than the Holocaust. Just one sad event in human history not the worst."  Now this statement is recounted here without much context, but the point is not about that person or the Holocaust itself, but instead a deeper philosophical, spiritual and perhaps theological pondering.


My first reaction was one of concurrence with the statement, but as the day wore on his statement sunk into me and agitated inside up me like gravel on my skin and I ended up rejecting it--maybe the Holocaust was the worst--maybe it wasn't.  For me it came down to an unanswerable question that would only have an answer that would be irrelevant and certainly irreverent.
         

How Does One Measure Sadness?

Does one hold a measuring cup to

Capture the accumulated tears

Of an atrocity’s victims?

Does one hoist the tears of

Gassed Holocaust Jews and

Does one add to it

the rubbered scars of the survivors?

Does one scrape and shake out the

Ink from tattooed serial numbers into

The cup?

Does one appraise the tears of

Raped, murdered and mutilated

Tutsis and Hutus?

Does one weigh

The bones of school children slaughtered?

Does one record the nightmares recounted

In gacaca courts’

Grass fields?

Does one quantify the tears

Vaporized in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

Does one tally the

Seared and blackened

deadened flesh?

Does one register

The slow demise of life

from radiation sickness?

Does one place the hearts

buried at Wounded Knee

upon the scales of Dike?

Does one mark the expanse

of the theft of an

entire continent?

Does one count

sorrows’ burden of

desolate and derelict reservations?

How does one measure sadness?

Does one pile up

the tears                     the bodies            the flesh            the nightmares

the ink                        the bones            the corpses            the screams

to compare and judge their loss?

How does one assess the weight of a scream?

How does one compute the last gasp of a dying child?

How can I ever 

grasp 

your loss?

Paper on three most important elements in a paper

Following is an assignment for my research and writing class.  The professor asked us to write a short paper on the three essential elements of a well-written paper.  The difficulty of this task surprised me.

Revise, Revise, Revise

          While Elmore Leonard is best known as a writer of fiction, his statement, “I try to leave out the parts that people skip,” speaks to writers of every genre. Such advice is timeless and sage because all writers’ ultimate goal is for people to read their work—all of their work. Regardless of genre, a well-written work accomplishes three goals: it employs the active voice, varies its sentence structure, and is a product of revision. When authors stray from the first goal and use the passive voice instead of the active, the effect is insidious because the focus shifts from the narrative, forcing the readers to search (often in vain) for the subject. There are cases that call for the passive voice, such as when the subject needs to remain in the background; however, these cases are the exceptions. While the active voice focuses the readers’ attention, sentence variety provides readers with a rhythm and syncopation to guide them through the paper. Alternating the length of the sentences is not enough; of equal importance, writers must adjust the sentence structure. Thoughtful departures from the routine subject-verb-object sentence give a paper complexity and engage readers. 

           Neither goal is accomplished, though, without revision. Only ignorant and lazy writers believe their first effort to be their final one. Revision is the opportunity for writers to read through their work and make necessary corrections. During this process, authors ferret out derelict passive phrases and inspect each sentence for variety in length and structure. At this point, the best writers put down their papers and walk away, for at least an hour or two, or, better yet, a day or more. This distance and time allow writers to return to their work with a fresh eye, providing them better context in which to edit their work. Key to all of these elements is time. The polish of a superior paper reflects the lengthy and dedicated process of revision and correction. While writing well is a difficult endeavor, reading should not be.

My checklist for writing well

New update: 2 FEB 2012

Paper Checklist

Control + f the following:

The fact that

In the event that

For the reason that

That (can the sentence stand without it?) (used with essential info)

Which (used with non-essential info; could often be in parantheses) (descriptive)

This (at beginning of the sentence when it wasn’t just mentioned at the end of the previous sentence)

In order to

By means of

Not (make it the positive version)

none (S&W p. 10)

Would, Should, Could, May, Might, Can

Who is, Which was

Who (subject-he)

Whom (object-him)

Rather, Very, Little, Pretty, quite

I, me, my, we, us, our

‘ (contractions)

one of (should have a plural verb)

ion (watch out for these when a verb could be used)

it (am I overusing it)

Notes to self:

and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet (coordinating conjunctions)—need comma

however, therefore (coordinating adverb)—need semicolon

By (passive)

Parallelism (and/or lists)

Overuse of parentheses for other than acronyms (replace with two commas)

Proper noun repetition (find synonym)

Some passive is okay (to conceal blame or if actor is unknown, ‘the milk was spilled’)

*some sentences that appear to be passive may in fact be an adjective ( ‘forces were exhausted’)

Use semicolons in a list with commas