diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 316a321..90d1e26 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -1,18 +1,17 @@
 module github.com/writeas/web-core
 
 go 1.10
 
 require (
 	github.com/kr/pretty v0.1.0 // indirect
 	github.com/kylemcc/twitter-text-go v0.0.0-20180726194232-7f582f6736ec
 	github.com/microcosm-cc/bluemonday v1.0.2
 	github.com/nu7hatch/gouuid v0.0.0-20131221200532-179d4d0c4d8d
 	github.com/shurcooL/sanitized_anchor_name v1.0.0 // indirect
 	github.com/writeas/impart v1.1.0
-	github.com/writeas/nerds v1.0.0
 	github.com/writeas/openssl-go v1.0.0
 	github.com/writeas/saturday v1.6.0
 	golang.org/x/crypto v0.0.0-20190131182504-b8fe1690c613
 	gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20180628173108-788fd7840127 // indirect
 	gopkg.in/yaml.v1 v1.0.0-20140924161607-9f9df34309c0 // indirect
 )
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index c0585e9..afd6e1b 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -1,29 +1,27 @@
 github.com/kr/pretty v0.1.0 h1:L/CwN0zerZDmRFUapSPitk6f+Q3+0za1rQkzVuMiMFI=
 github.com/kr/pretty v0.1.0/go.mod h1:dAy3ld7l9f0ibDNOQOHHMYYIIbhfbHSm3C4ZsoJORNo=
 github.com/kr/pty v1.1.1/go.mod h1:pFQYn66WHrOpPYNljwOMqo10TkYh1fy3cYio2l3bCsQ=
 github.com/kr/text v0.1.0 h1:45sCR5RtlFHMR4UwH9sdQ5TC8v0qDQCHnXt+kaKSTVE=
 github.com/kr/text v0.1.0/go.mod h1:4Jbv+DJW3UT/LiOwJeYQe1efqtUx/iVham/4vfdArNI=
 github.com/kylemcc/twitter-text-go v0.0.0-20180726194232-7f582f6736ec h1:ZXWuspqypleMuJy4bzYEqlMhJnGAYpLrWe5p7W3CdvI=
 github.com/kylemcc/twitter-text-go v0.0.0-20180726194232-7f582f6736ec/go.mod h1:voECJzdraJmolzPBgL9Z7ANwXf4oMXaTCsIkdiPpR/g=
 github.com/microcosm-cc/bluemonday v1.0.2 h1:5lPfLTTAvAbtS0VqT+94yOtFnGfUWYyx0+iToC3Os3s=
 github.com/microcosm-cc/bluemonday v1.0.2/go.mod h1:iVP4YcDBq+n/5fb23BhYFvIMq/leAFZyRl6bYmGDlGc=
 github.com/nu7hatch/gouuid v0.0.0-20131221200532-179d4d0c4d8d h1:VhgPp6v9qf9Agr/56bj7Y/xa04UccTW04VP0Qed4vnQ=
 github.com/nu7hatch/gouuid v0.0.0-20131221200532-179d4d0c4d8d/go.mod h1:YUTz3bUH2ZwIWBy3CJBeOBEugqcmXREj14T+iG/4k4U=
 github.com/shurcooL/sanitized_anchor_name v1.0.0 h1:PdmoCO6wvbs+7yrJyMORt4/BmY5IYyJwS/kOiWx8mHo=
 github.com/shurcooL/sanitized_anchor_name v1.0.0/go.mod h1:1NzhyTcUVG4SuEtjjoZeVRXNmyL/1OwPU0+IJeTBvfc=
 github.com/writeas/impart v1.1.0 h1:nPnoO211VscNkp/gnzir5UwCDEvdHThL5uELU60NFSE=
 github.com/writeas/impart v1.1.0/go.mod h1:g0MpxdnTOHHrl+Ca/2oMXUHJ0PcRAEWtkCzYCJUXC9Y=
-github.com/writeas/nerds v1.0.0 h1:ZzRcCN+Sr3MWID7o/x1cr1ZbLvdpej9Y1/Ho+JKlqxo=
-github.com/writeas/nerds v1.0.0/go.mod h1:Gn2bHy1EwRcpXeB7ZhVmuUwiweK0e+JllNf66gvNLdU=
 github.com/writeas/openssl-go v1.0.0 h1:YXM1tDXeYOlTyJjoMlYLQH1xOloUimSR1WMF8kjFc5o=
 github.com/writeas/openssl-go v1.0.0/go.mod h1:WsKeK5jYl0B5y8ggOmtVjbmb+3rEGqSD25TppjJnETA=
 github.com/writeas/saturday v1.6.0 h1:HNUtX8TVJJnSdxE8vaAgtHiAJVt+Of5AJYlm62pmVlI=
 github.com/writeas/saturday v1.6.0/go.mod h1:ETE1EK6ogxptJpAgUbcJD0prAtX48bSloie80+tvnzQ=
 golang.org/x/crypto v0.0.0-20190131182504-b8fe1690c613 h1:MQ/ZZiDsUapFFiMS+vzwXkCTeEKaum+Do5rINYJDmxc=
 golang.org/x/crypto v0.0.0-20190131182504-b8fe1690c613/go.mod h1:6SG95UA2DQfeDnfUPMdvaQW0Q7yPrPDi9nlGo2tz2b4=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20181220203305-927f97764cc3 h1:eH6Eip3UpmR+yM/qI9Ijluzb1bNv/cAU/n+6l8tRSis=
 golang.org/x/net v0.0.0-20181220203305-927f97764cc3/go.mod h1:mL1N/T3taQHkDXs73rZJwtUhF3w3ftmwwsq0BUmARs4=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20180628173108-788fd7840127 h1:qIbj1fsPNlZgppZ+VLlY7N33q108Sa+fhmuc+sWQYwY=
 gopkg.in/check.v1 v1.0.0-20180628173108-788fd7840127/go.mod h1:Co6ibVJAznAaIkqp8huTwlJQCZ016jof/cbN4VW5Yz0=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v1 v1.0.0-20140924161607-9f9df34309c0 h1:POO/ycCATvegFmVuPpQzZFJ+pGZeX22Ufu6fibxDVjU=
 gopkg.in/yaml.v1 v1.0.0-20140924161607-9f9df34309c0/go.mod h1:WDnlLJ4WF5VGsH/HVa3CI79GS0ol3YnhVnKP89i0kNg=
diff --git a/id/random.go b/id/random.go
index a34f96e..0c804df 100644
--- a/id/random.go
+++ b/id/random.go
@@ -1,12 +1,26 @@
 package id
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"github.com/writeas/nerds/store"
+	"crypto/rand"
 )
 
+// GenerateRandomString creates a random string of characters of the given
+// length from the given dictionary of possible characters.
+//
+// This example generates a hexadecimal string 6 characters long:
+//     GenerateRandomString("0123456789abcdef", 6)
+func GenerateRandomString(dictionary string, l int) string {
+	var bytes = make([]byte, l)
+	rand.Read(bytes)
+	for k, v := range bytes {
+		bytes[k] = dictionary[v%byte(len(dictionary))]
+	}
+	return string(bytes)
+}
+
 // GenSafeUniqueSlug generatees a reasonably unique random slug from the given
 // original slug. It's "safe" because it uses 0-9 b-z excluding vowels.
 func GenSafeUniqueSlug(slug string) string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", slug, store.GenerateRandomString("0123456789bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxyz", 4))
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s-%s", slug, GenerateRandomString("0123456789bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxyz", 4))
 }