Farewell, Willyam!

It is a time-honored tradition in AP English to have a class yam as our mascot.  Every year I buy a particularly solid-looking yam when we read Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart (yams being symbolic of strength and manhood in the novel).  Every year we name the yam (Yamzebe, Yamlet, Yamir, Lady Yaya...), and every year the students rub the yam for good luck before the AP test.  A few years ago, we started having a yam funeral for closure and to bring full circle my theory in AP English class that everything ultimately comes back to The Lion King.  It is the Circle of Life.

Godspeed, Willyam Shakespeare.