diff --git a/tahrir/__init__.py b/tahrir/__init__.py
index 34eb84c..c4eeae6 100644
--- a/tahrir/__init__.py
+++ b/tahrir/__init__.py
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 import os
 from configparser import ConfigParser
 
-import dogpile.cache
-import dogpile.cache.util
-import tahrir_api.model
 from pyramid.authentication import AuthTktAuthenticationPolicy
 from pyramid.authorization import ACLAuthorizationPolicy
 from pyramid.config import Configurator
@@ -15,20 +12,12 @@
 
 from . import notifications
 from .app import get_root
-from .utils import (
-    make_avatar_method,
-    str_to_bytes,
-)
+from .utils import cache
 
 
 def main(global_config, **settings):
     """This function returns a Pyramid WSGI application."""
 
-    cache = dogpile.cache.make_region(
-        key_mangler=lambda x: dogpile.cache.util.sha1_mangle_key(str_to_bytes(x))
-    )
-    tahrir_api.model.Person.avatar_url = make_avatar_method(cache)
-
     session_cls = scoped_session(
         sessionmaker(
             bind=create_engine(settings["sqlalchemy.url"]),
diff --git a/tahrir/templates/functions.mak b/tahrir/templates/functions.mak
index 07a1674..a4a0dc7 100644
--- a/tahrir/templates/functions.mak
+++ b/tahrir/templates/functions.mak
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+<%!
+    import functools
+    from tahrir.utils import get_avatar
+    def as_avatar(size):
+        return functools.partial(get_avatar, size=size)
+%>
+
 <%def name="avatar_thumbnail(person, size, cell_width, tooltip=True)">
 	<div class="grid-${cell_width} thumbnail-container">
 		<div class="thumbnail thumbnail-${size}">
@@ -5,7 +12,7 @@
 			<span class="tooltip tooltip-${size}" data-tooltip="${person.nickname}">
       % endif
 				<a href="${request.route_url('user', id=person.nickname or person.id)}">
-					<img property="foaf:img schema:image" src="${person.avatar_url(size)}" />
+					<img property="foaf:img schema:image" src="${person.email | as_avatar(size)}" />
 				</a>
       % if tooltip:
 			</span>
diff --git a/tahrir/utils.py b/tahrir/utils.py
index e69aef5..257253b 100644
--- a/tahrir/utils.py
+++ b/tahrir/utils.py
@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@
 from hashlib import sha256
 
 import dateutil.relativedelta
+import dogpile.cache
+import dogpile.cache.util
 import pyramid.threadlocal
 
 libravatar = None
@@ -13,6 +15,11 @@
     pass
 
 
+cache = dogpile.cache.make_region(
+    key_mangler=lambda x: dogpile.cache.util.sha1_mangle_key(str_to_bytes(x))
+)
+
+
 def generate_badge_yaml(postdict):
     return (
         "%YAML 1.2\n"
@@ -45,55 +52,46 @@ def generate_badge_yaml(postdict):
     )
 
 
-def make_avatar_method(cache):
-
-    @cache.cache_on_arguments()
-    def _avatar_function(email: bytes, size):
-        request = pyramid.threadlocal.get_current_request()
-        theme_name = request.registry.settings.get("tahrir.theme_name", "tahrir")
-        absolute_default = request.registry.settings.get(
-            "tahrir.default_avatar",
-            request.static_url(f"{theme_name}:static/img/badger_avatar.png"),
-        )
-
-        query = {
-            "s": size,
-            "d": absolute_default,
-        }
-
-        if size == "responsive":
-            # Make it big so we can downscale it as we please
-            query["s"] = 312
+@cache.cache_on_arguments()
+def get_avatar(email: str, size):
+    request = pyramid.threadlocal.get_current_request()
+    theme_name = request.registry.settings.get("tahrir.theme_name", "tahrir")
+    absolute_default = request.registry.settings.get(
+        "tahrir.default_avatar",
+        request.static_url(f"{theme_name}:static/img/badger_avatar.png"),
+    )
 
-        query = urllib.parse.urlencode(query)
+    query = {
+        "s": size,
+        "d": absolute_default,
+    }
 
-        # Use md5 for emails, and sha256 for openids.
-        # We're really using openids, so...
-        # hash = md5(email).hexdigest()
-        hash = sha256(email).hexdigest()
+    if size == "responsive":
+        # Make it big so we can downscale it as we please
+        query["s"] = 312
 
-        # TODO This next line is temporary and can be removed.  We do
-        # libravatar ourselves here by hand to avoid pyDNS issues on epel6.
-        # Once those are resolved we can use pylibravatar again.
-        return f"https://seccdn.libravatar.org/avatar/{hash}?{query}"
+    query = urllib.parse.urlencode(query)
 
-        gravatar_url = f"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/{hash}?{query}"
+    # Use md5 for emails, and sha256 for openids.
+    # We're really using openids, so...
+    # hash = md5(email).hexdigest()
+    hash = sha256(email.encode("utf-8")).hexdigest()
 
-        if libravatar:
-            return libravatar.libravatar_url(
-                email=email,
-                size=size,
-                default=gravatar_url,
-            )
-        else:
-            return gravatar_url
+    # TODO This next line is temporary and can be removed.  We do
+    # libravatar ourselves here by hand to avoid pyDNS issues on epel6.
+    # Once those are resolved we can use pylibravatar again.
+    return f"https://seccdn.libravatar.org/avatar/{hash}?{query}"
 
-    def avatar_method(self, size):
-        # dogpile.cache can barf on unicode, so do this ourselves.
-        # Call the cached workhorse function
-        return _avatar_function(self.email.encode("utf-8"), size)
+    gravatar_url = f"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/{hash}?{query}"
 
-    return avatar_method
+    if libravatar:
+        return libravatar.libravatar_url(
+            email=email,
+            size=size,
+            default=gravatar_url,
+        )
+    else:
+        return gravatar_url
 
 
 def singularize(term, value):
diff --git a/tahrir/views.py b/tahrir/views.py
index 785693e..48ba01a 100644
--- a/tahrir/views.py
+++ b/tahrir/views.py
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@
 from pyramid.view import view_config
 from tahrir_api.utils import convert_name_to_id
 
-from tahrir.utils import generate_badge_yaml
+from tahrir.utils import generate_badge_yaml, get_avatar
 
 
 def _get_user(request, id_or_nickname):
@@ -915,7 +915,7 @@ def badge_rss(request):
         entry.description(
             description_template
             % (
-                assertion.person.avatar_url(128),
+                get_avatar(assertion.person.email, 128),
                 assertion.person.nickname,
                 assertion.person.nickname,
             )
@@ -1070,7 +1070,7 @@ def _user_json_generator(request, user):
 
     return {
         "user": user.nickname,
-        "avatar": user.avatar_url(int(request.GET.get("size", 100))),
+        "avatar": get_avatar(user.email, int(request.GET.get("size", 100))),
         "percent_earned": user_info["percent_earned"],
         "assertions": assertions,
         "percentile": str(user_info["percentile"]),