The first two might seem intuitive – in order to survive in a city like New York, with its debatably isolating, quick pace, it makes sense that hard work and connections are key. What isn’t as obvious, however, is how powerful the gift of mentorship can be. In fact, I’ve found that mentorship is the most commonly overlooked, and probably least well-executed, element of the three.

It’s easy to believe that mentorship is a one-way street. Adopting a mentor seems to be little more than literally latching onto someone in the industry, someone who understands the trials and travails of what you are going through, in order to learn the tricks of the trade. In reality, however, mentees cannot undergo the full growth process that is so indicative of a positive mentor relationship without a good deal of work. Yep, work. Being a good mentee means initiative, follow-up, and humility, three elements that are also indicative of a valuable employee.

Before I even made the big move out here to New York, I had the luck of stumbling into several incredible mentors within the journalism industry, all of whom were at once encouraging and realistic. They encouraged my pursuit of journalism and passed along contacts and tips. They patiently answered questions I had about entering a field that is unpredictable and ever-evolving in nature. And they told me stories of their own journey toward journalistic success.

But the biggest takeaway by far was that none of them told me what to do. There is no distinct path in any career we undertake, and part of being a good mentor is recognizing that and not trying to mold someone else’s future. On the flip side, being a good mentee means also recognizing that and therefore not expecting answers from said mentor. Part of the beauty of mentorship is that both parties learn a lot about their own capabilities as individuals while having the security of an “industry insider” to lean on.

Mentorship is not defined by who gains and who gives. It’s about mutual growth.

Recently a devastating storm slammed into Guatemala, causing some fatalities and extensive damage – including a rather impressive sink hole. When pictures surfaced of the sink hole folks left comments both at the Huffington Post and CNN.com calling the photo a fake and decrying it as a “photoshop” job. Never mind that the sink hole is in fact real but it’s 2010 and a picture is no longer worth a thousand words nor proof of anything. The first casualty of this new era of media technology is belief.

When Brittany Murphy died people refused to believe that her death wasn’t caused by drugs but rather a bad case of pneumonia. Heck the Huffington Post turned their entertainment page that day into an all out assault on Murphy’s credibility, confirming that they are at times nothing more than a tabloid extension of TMZ. Never mind that the investigation was still under way and never mind that her family and fans were no doubt still mourning.

And the list goes on. When Brett Michaels was hospitalized after his brain hemorrhage some chose to not believe it and insisted that he was just doing a PR stunt. When the Apollo mission landed on the moon rumors of a sound stage cover up flourished. Heck some even thought 9/11 was staged and the planes fake – despite that many saw it happen before their very eyes.

And for some Elvis is still alive.

It’s happened to me. I was covering some LaRouche volunteers as they were hanging out on a street corner in Toluca Lake, CA denouncing President Obama when a woman came by and tore down their anti-Obama sign and took their cell phone/camera. The ensuing verbal altercation and short bit of action as the lady expressed how angry she was with their depiction of Obama as Hitler was caught on my camera. After editing the piece just to clean it up and putting it up on CNN.com – some viewers posted that I had staged the entire event. I didn’t of course but that didn’t ease their suspicions.

And of course then there’s the case of President Obama – not only do some people not believe he was born in the U.S. (despite ample proof), they also think he’s a Muslim and that Acorn stole the election – even though none of that is true.

Mind you those same people believe James O’Keefe when he staged meetings with Acorn by editing the footage to make it seem like they were taking him seriously in his attempts to get help for his “prostitution business”.

So what does it take to tell the truth and have it believed? Here at the AVJ we’re all about finding the truth through understanding but what happens when people just simply don’t want to believe truth – how do you ever find understanding ?

Is there any hope anymore for the truth?

So imagine my dismay (and simultaneous relief) when I received a barrage of emails and texts just as soon as I touched down on the East Coast. In terms of adjusting to a new place, I felt as though mentally, I didn’t have very much to adapt to – all of my family and friends were right where I had left them, in a virtual space of Facebook messages, gchat windows and Blackberry alerts. Physically, I quickly had to adjust to the pace and the crowds and the do-or-die attitude that all New Yorkers seemed to embody, and to which my Angeleno genes were unaccustomed.

Still, moving away from home wasn’t quite what it used to be.

With advancements in social networking, I’ve learned that even in a new physical environment, I’m never alone. Starting life anew is easier said than done — the only way to do so would be to remove myself from technology entirely. Delete my Facebook account, cease the endless influx of email and hurl my BlackBerry into the Hudson. And tempting though that sounds sometimes, I know that in this century, it is impossible to do so without dire consequences.

We’ve become so engrossed with the idea of connections and networking and expanding our social circles that even the nuisance of constantly checking our email is preferable to the idea of silence and isolation. We are, after all, social creatures. And the advent of Twitter and Facebook and YouTube means that we can stay up-to-date — in real time — with what our friends are up to, and conversely, keep them posted on what we’re up to.

This seems to be the way society works nowadays. The importance of a lesson learned is overshadowed by a need to Tweet about the crazy ordeal we’ve gotten ourselves into. Every little detail about our daily lives (“Just made a peanut butter sandwich, lol”) needs to be chronicled and shared, else it didn’t really happen at all. And so distance, physical distance, becomes a seeming non-issue.

What this means, ultimately, is that social networking has bound us into an obligation to others that didn’t quite used to exist. Because while it’s lovely to be able to share photos and commentary on my day-to-day life in New York, this level of global intimacy is also now expected. If I ignored all of my virtual support systems for more than a week, people would start to wonder if something had happened, if I was okay. And this kind of interpersonal connection has become, I think, more harmful than helpful because of the expectations it has spawned.

Good for keeping in touch, bad for self-development. External influences start to drive our decisions, and introspection becomes a rarity. In my move to New York, I was torn between wanting to have that safety net of familiarity and going completely solo in a quest for self discovery. And what I found was that when I leapt and made that cross-country jaunt, I carried with me too much baggage, not all of it my own.

As a journalist, reporting on divorce – or worse, the aftermath – has become just about as common as reading a release on the latest reality star’s jaunt into the music industry. Neither is particularly pleasant, but both also captivate readers in a kind of train-wreck curiosity. The scary part about it all is that readers often begin taking sides, analyzing public marriages and divorces as though the public personas they are familiar with — the red carpet smiles, the publicity-driven acts of charity and the bouts with the paparazzi — are anywhere near the genuine essence of the marriages they read about.

In the public eye, divorce has become a speed bump. It’s a tedious process that is more of a hassle than an emotional ordeal. Time used to be that divorces were a rarity, deemed a sort of failure on both persons’ parts; now it is an ugly sometimes-necessity for people who know better than to try to work it out. What this teaches children, and subconsciously ingrains into the minds of young adults everywhere, is that there is an easy alternative to the strife of marriage: get out.

This is an age of quick-fixes, and if it’s okay for celebrities to count their number of spouses on their two hands, then it must not be that terrible to split from what troubles us as well. Critics would argue that this is because marriage as an institution is outdated, that some people would rather have long partnerships than get married because of the many implications marriage holds. I would counter that the main reason divorce is now no longer viewed as a terrible fate is because of the pace of life. Change needs to be instant — think plastic surgery and crash diets — and there isn’t much that can’t be fixed with a little money. This means that, in a strange way, divorce has become a weird status symbol of sorts. How much did she get after the settlement? How much did they invest into the case? People have to have a certain standard of living to be able to afford divorce procedures.

In reality (and not reality TV), however, divorce shouldn’t be such a callous business transaction — and it’s usually not. When I think about the children who have to endure the pains of back-and-forth battles between their parents, I think and know that their own take on marriage down the line will be severely impacted. Distrust or lack of commitment become the way for them to approach the once-sacred institution, and the cycle continues on.

Scary thought.

As proven by way of reality TV shows, society is fascinated with watching other people’s lives onscreen. Or perhaps more gratuitous still, watching an altered version of themselves onscreen and then mimicking that in real life. It’s a dangerous blurring between real life and the glamorous pictures on the other side of the glass, but it’s also unfortunately all too common. Divorce as we know it today, divorce as I read and write about on a daily basis, is the modern common cold — easily caught, a hassle to deal with, swiftly dealt with.

His arms were outstretched in a cross like pose as he was supported by the protesters below him. His mouth agape, his face contorted as if every muscle in it was crying out “FREEDOM!”

It was a picture. A picture from Iran this week – a protester angry with the outcome of the Iranian quasi-democratic election. And he wasn’t alone. Images keep pouring through the swiss cheese holes of the Iranian government understanding of technology. Photo after photo shows the same thing – the grasp for freedom exploding out of the individuals who now know, with no doubt, that they are not free.

I worry. I worry for them, their safety as they begin yet again to go through the motions of revolution. Hopefully this time justice, human justice will prevail and they can reclaim their seat at the world table as a truly free and vibrant people.

But I also worry for the journalists left behind trying to report the chaos and the truth. It’s so hard to get that out – the truth. It can be a mortal yet necessary desire. Maybe this event will remind journalists what their function is in this world. To simply tell the truth and not what a state or body or sponsor tells them to say.

In the end I am amazed that Twitter, technology, information, communication – I am amazed but not surprised that they are making a difference. It’s reassuring to think that human progress is not just up to men in long grey beards and old families. We have come so far – and we as a human race are tired and weary but we are so very close to achieving our potential – to achieving peace and prosperity for all on this planet.

Thousands of years of fighting and death and abated breath are almost done. We are so close…so very close…to overcoming our greed for power.