Commencement 2023: new grads tell their stories

Bob Handelman

Bob Handelman

View full image

Sebastián Roizner Rodriguez
Boston, MA
Davenport College
BA in Philosophy

What was your senior thesis topic for philosophy?
I actually talked about the ethics of docu-fiction. I'm super interested in art and the morality that exists behind that, so I was really interested in how art has become very post-real.

What other sorts of things did you do outside of class?
Lots and lots of singing. Before I was in the Whiffenpoofs, I was in the Yale Spizzwinks, which is an underclassmen a cappella group. I was in that group for three years. I also sang as a part of the Opera Theatre of Yale College, so I did different operas like Pygmalion, and I also did Patience, a Gilbert and Sullivan opera. I also sang as a part of the Yale Jazz Collective. Aside from that, I also was deeply involved with education in New Haven, working for different organizations whose specific goals are to work with New Haven public school students.

What do you plan to do after graduation?
Luckily, I was able to secure some funding to make a documentary down in Bogota, Colombia. And I'm going to make it about cumbia music, and community building. That's the plan. I have some ideas for what I want this documentary to look like. But I also just want to go in with a camera, be ready, capture the things, and then after the fact see what the story is, and what I'm trying to paint. I'd love to have a bunch of vignettes about musicians and teachers of music, and also just random people listening to music in their day-to-day.