When it rains, it pours. Such as, when it rains bombs and bullets in the Middle East, oil prices elsewhere in the world rise as surely as the sun in summer.

The days are getting warmer, the chilly nights are getting shorter. And all I can think about are how much we will be paying for fuel for the car and electricity for the aircon. I can go without airconditioning at night, but I cannot say the same for my housemates.

Unlike the younger generation who seem to have been conceived in a cooler clime, their elders need less adjusting to the summer heat — or is that an oil and water metaphor?

We were having lunch to plan a coming event for Plaridel, the 30-year-old association of “senior” editors and writers, when it struck me that if there are young and younger journalists who are eager to join the club, they are either invisible or out of earshot or just plain shy about joining the fuddy-duddies. But the good news — confirmed by Joyce Pañares, who is both a journalist and instructor in mass communications — is that indeed and in fact, students enrolled in masscom are serious about their aspirations. (Not that one needs a college degree to be accepted into the profession.)

Roly Estabillo, chairman of Plaridel as well as head of the Publishers Association, continues to be optimistic – nay, sanguine – about journalism as a real profession, so much so that his 2026-27 aspirations include a book about Plaridel, its history as well as its future, considering the rapid changes brought about by technology and AI.

Indeed, the day may not be too far off when the newspaper you read or the TV news you’re watching was written, edited, and produced by Alexa or someone from her tribe. If Alexa can learn the rules of grammar, why doubt her?

In the meantime, should you encourage your child to pursue a degree in journalism? By no means should you discourage them. The truth about journalism is that like crime, it doesn’t pay. But it’s so today — “jour” in French meaning “day” —and so exciting even as a subject that nothing else comes close. As long as you choose the right school and the right models.