diff --git a/www/conservancy/settings.py b/www/conservancy/settings.py
index 68e506a02cf0a5581af52358e354899c42fc5f95..1edd532c4a2b08ba4ad496741377446fac1984a0 100644
--- a/www/conservancy/settings.py
+++ b/www/conservancy/settings.py
@@ -17,6 +17,8 @@
 # along with this program in a file in the toplevel directory called
 # "AGPLv3".  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
+import os.path
+
 from djangocommonsettings import *
 
 SITE_ID = 2
@@ -31,15 +33,12 @@ REDIRECT_TABLE = {
     'www.sf-conservancy.org': 'sfconservancy.org',
 }
 
-# import os
-# BASE_DIR = os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__))
-
-# from os.path import join
-# TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
-#     join(BASE_DIR,  'templates'),
-# )
-# NOTE: trailing comma is required to force this to be a tuple
-TEMPLATE_DIRS = ( '/var/www/conservancy/templates', '/var/www/conservancy/static', )
+_root_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+TEMPLATE_DIRS = (
+    os.path.join(_root_dir, 'templates'),
+    os.path.join(_root_dir, 'static'),
+)
+del _root_dir
 
 # try:
 #     from djangodebug import conservancy_hostname as FORCE_CANONICAL_HOSTNAME
diff --git a/www/wsgicustom.wsgi b/www/wsgicustom.wsgi
index fa1197c33a875df85d0cf00a083a6f068773b357..d06f0061a9b0af00d7180e2ac42db1db8b73560b 100644
--- a/www/wsgicustom.wsgi
+++ b/www/wsgicustom.wsgi
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 import os
 import sys
 
-sys.path = ['/var/www'] + sys.path
+root_dir = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__))
+sys.path.insert(0, root_dir)
 os.environ['DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE'] = 'conservancy.settings'
 
 from django.core.wsgi import get_wsgi_application