I found this on the Aerogramme Studio site. To test a sentence to see whether or not it is cast in passive voice, try adding “by zombies.” If it can be added, then you know it’s passive.
The sentence was written on the whiteboard … by zombies.
The post was added that evening … by zombies.
Not that some passive constructions aren’t okay, but still–
…to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men … by zombies …
You get the idea. 
Last night while being a supportive mom, hanging out at Barnes & Noble with one of my daughters while she did math (I was no actual help, mind you), I decided to read first paragraphs of several novels. This was my favorite:
“To take an interest in the affairs of others is entirely natural; so natural, in fact, that even a cat, lying cat-napping on top of a wall, will watch with half an eye the people walking by below. But between such curiosity, which is permissable, and nosiness, which is not, there lies a dividing line that is painted red and marked by the very clearest of warning signs.” –Alexander McCall Smith, The Right Attitude to Rain
Spring is just around the corner, and spring break. The trees are not green yet, but I can see the buds on the trees in my yard and they give me hope.
I open my collection of Rumi’s poems, and I find this line: “What you seek is seeking you.”
One of my nieces posted this picture on Facebook this morning, and I’m pretty sure it showed up because I needed to hear it.
In my literature class this quarter, we’re reading monster books — Frankenstein, Dracula, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde. It’s a learning community combining English 101 (college composition) with an introduction to literature. Fifty-five students, many of them Running Start (that is, High School) students. It’s been a slog. I keep reminding myself that even when I assign “great” literature, my students tend not to be English majors, and they are often non-readers.
A long time ago, when my children were small, I read a book called Kids Are Worth It by Barbara Colorosa. The title says it all — even when your children misbehave, don’t listen, embarass you by refusing to come out of the big climbing tunnel in McDonalds, they’re still perfectly good little human beings experimenting with what works for them. It’s not personal, Mom or Dad. It’s just what kids do.
Students, too. Even when they gripe about the books I assign. Even when they plagiarize the paper on Wuthering Heights. Even when they check their smart phones all through class and think I don’t see them.
We talked in class today about how one of the things an author might be dramatizing by writing about a vampire or another undead sort is how hard it is to be human.
So, just for the record, I want to tell you that students are worth it, even when they’re monsters. And so am I.