Astra Taylor’s Age of Insecurity
Astra Taylor has a résumé that defies the notion of résumé building. She is a writer, documentary filmmaker, and organizer, and, during the past couple of decades, her itinerant intellect has taken her cruising around New York in a Volvo with Cornel West (for her 2008 documentary on philosophers, “Examined Life”), interviewing Syrian refugees in Greece (for her 2018 film “What Is Democracy?”), and touring with the revered indie-rock band Neutral Milk Hotel (for love—the band’s songwriter and singer, Jeff Mangum, is her husband). Her wide-ranging curiosity animates her work, and her political commitments anchor it. She is one of the co-founders of the Debt Collective, an organization that has been at the forefront of the movement to cancel student debt—a cause that has particular urgency a...
