I get it. Some people believe that Judge Aaron Persky has already lost in court – the court of public opinion. I applaud those who have studied the issue rather than merely reviewing one of many glossy fliers they received in the mail.

However, the arena of public opinion is not based on due process, many times giving little effort to thoughtful analysis. It is based on emotion and gut feelings. And who, after all, can disagree with the premise: They should throw the book at anyone who assaults a woman, and this judge merely threw a chapter.

Every April, Earth Day and Earth Month have historically stimulated broad political and cultural alignments. The first Earth Day in 1970 brought U.S. Republicans and Democrats together in an effort to protect the environment, and by year’s end, lawmakers created the Environmental Protection Agency and passed the Clean Air, Clean Water and Endangered Species acts. Earth Day 1990 boosted recycling efforts worldwide, paving the way for the unprecedented 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, which spawned the United Nations Framework on Climate Change (UNFCC).

Last fall, more than 100,000 Santa Clara County voters signed a petition to put the recall of Judge Aaron Persky on Tuesday’s ballot. We believe he should be replaced with a new judge because of his pattern of bias favoring privileged defendants over survivors/victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and child pornography. We ask you to vote “yes” to recall Persky.

Persky shocked our community when he sentenced Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to only six months in jail for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman. The victim, a Gunn High School graduate, was a classmate of many of our Los Altos Hills children.

Recently there have been accusations of harassment and misconduct at Silicon Valley Community Foundation. In light of this news, you may be asking what is a community foundation, and why is it important for a community such as ours?

Community foundations enable residents, private foundations and businesses to strengthen the community through local philanthropy and civic engagement. They are the “people’s foundation,” offering community members the ability to set up funds, start programs, give grants, collaborate and volunteer to address local needs and improve quality of life.

There are daily signs of the coming apocalypse, but none so hilariously disturbing as the creation of Pugz. This confirms that our human condition is going to the dogs. We now have boots for bowsers that are stylishly similar to Uggs for bipeds. They are designed to keep your pooch’s paws toasty and odor free at the same time. With faux leather exteriors and comfy woolen linings, they are Fido fashionable and pet practical.

In 2009, I graduated from high school with mediocre grades, mediocre SAT scores, a too-good-for-college stubbornness and a half-hatched plan to move to Los Angeles and become the next Paul Thomas Anderson or Steven Spielberg – both had dropped out of college.