I’m not a big fan of the death news item. It bothers me that, in many cases, the most we ever focus on someone in the media is usually when and directly after their death. To that end, as a human, I feel negligent in appreciating more often those in my life, and those who have impacted my life through their deeds or their art. Sally Menke as an editor was as influential an artistic voice as Quentin Tarantino, the filmmaker to whose varied filmography she is most obviously tied. If Tarantino’s brash voice in the ’90s said, “this is how a movie can be more than a movie” to me, it was only so resonant because Menke made his proclamations true with her editorial skill.
Sally Menke has died at the age of 56, a victim of heat exhaustion during an unusually-extreme heat wave in Los Angeles. Rest in peace, Sally.
