Miss Friday's Room 101 - NAfME

A couple of year ago, my ex-professional organization, MENC (Music Educators National Conference) decided to go corporate and rebrand itself.  (The whole idiotic process reminded me of the second season of Slings & Arrows, except without the happy ending.  Anyway, moving on.) 

Included in that process was a name change to, wait for it:  NAfME (National Association for Music Education).  Pronounced "nahf-mee."

Excuse me?  What was that?  "Nahf-mee?"  Surely, they were joking!  "Nahf-mee" sounds like a skin disease.  See that red, scaly rash on my elbow.  I went to the dermatologist yesterday and he said it was nafme.  If I use this $400 skin cream for eight weeks, it will go away.

No, they weren't joking.  What's worse is their official explanation of their choice:

"NAfME was chosen to reflect the organization’s 100-year history and because NAME is already used by a number of organizations. The new logo incorporates the “f” as a forte music symbol.
Most people are very positive—it’s not anything that should have been done frivolously, and it definitely wasn’t. It was a decision made by the members, not staff.” --Elizabeth Lasko, assistant executive director of NAfME’s Center for Members and Constituency Relations.

Whoa there tiger!  "A decision made by the members?"  I wasn't made by me or any of the then-member music teachers I know in-life or online.  In fact, all of the online ones (myself included) expressed shock, disbelief, and derision when the change was announced.  I would love to document that conversation with a link, but MENC -- excuse me -- NAfME, when updating their user forums, decided to delete all the old posts.  (A decision so stupid it deserves it's own post.)

Back to the topic at hand.  You decided to change a perfectly serviceable name just so that you could incorporate a musical symbol into it?!  A symbol, I might add, that no one will recognize in print and is impossible to discern orally?!  What kind of Dilbert-esque organization is this anyway?

P.S. To the MENC -- excuse me, NAfME -- intern who runs the mass mailings: Take my name off your list.  There is no way on God's green earth that I am rejoining your organization.