Chronicling College Life With Style

Rahim Chilewa ’27 was raised on stories. 

“Ever since I was a child, I’ve lived surrounded by storytellers,” he said. “My dad is a big storyteller. I think it comes from growing up in Tanzania — people getting together and telling and retelling stories was just part of the culture. Growing up in Houston, it was the same for us. Sitting with my two sisters after dinner, listening to him talk about Zanzibar and the Serengeti — that was how we spent so many evenings.” 

While his father brought stories to life through spoken word, his mother offered another path. “She’s the pragmatic, practical juxtaposition to my dad’s storytelling,” Chilewa said. She regularly took him and his sisters to the library and instilled in them a passion for reading to carry their imaginations even further. 

Together, those influences have shaped what the Pitzer junior calls a lifelong “reverence for story.” His interest in narrative and visual expression has found a unique outlet at Pitzer in Blaremont, the glossy magazine Chilewa founded and now serves as its editor, creative director, and photographer. Drawing inspiration from classic newsstand titles like Vogue, GQ, Ebony, and Jet, Blaremont blends fashion and long-form storytelling into a publication that could find its place on any newsstand. 

Launching a magazine would be an ambitious project for anyone — but Chilewa took it on while balancing a demanding double major in Africana studies and international political economy. For him, the workload is part of his creative drive. “I was thinking about all the magazines I admired, and then I started meeting so many incredibly creative people here,” he said. “At some point in my sophomore year, I thought, something really needs to come out of this.” 

Blaremont became that “something” — a print publication with a strong digital presence, shaped by a growing team of collaborators. One of the advantages Pitzer has, for Chilewa, is that belonging to a group of higher education institutions has connected him with many other undergrads across The Claremont Colleges to bring this vision to life. He credits his assistant creative director, Mahbuba Mohammed PO’28, and many others for sharing their skills to produce Blaremont, which launched last spring.  

Each issue is built like a visual narrative. Shoots are carefully staged by Chilewa, who produces most of the material in collaboration with Mahbuba. “I think about every feature like a scene,” Chilewa said. “Where is the story happening? What’s the mood? What should the lighting feel like?” 

The result: a professional, high-class publication whose style reflects its creator’s — Chilewa has to be one of the nattiest-attired undergrads on the Pitzer campus. 

In Blaremont, he showcases the stories and styles of everyone he’s gotten to know through his involvement with the Office of Black Student Affairs and Pitzer’s Black Student Union. He may have his hands full with two majors, but he’s made time for the publication because it’s more than a passion project for him — he sees its celebration of the achievements and experiences of Black students as a means of boosting intercultural understanding. Chilewa invites all readers to explore the publication and learn more about the lives chronicled there. 

Chilewa said he is particularly grateful to the OBSA, which has given him something many magazine editors and publishers struggle for these days: funding. 

“It’s amazing to have a dream you want to pursue and someone else says, ‘Go do it. We’ve got you covered,’ ” he said. 

In an age dominated by screens, Chilewa’s commitment to print seems a little unexpected. After all, doesn’t he belong to a generation that is so thoroughly wired up that they don’t need anything else but a smartphone to access the world? 

That may be true, Chilewa said, but he’s also noticing a shift. “People in my generation are starting to shift back to like the physical and tangible,” he said. “I mean, I love Spotify, but I want to own some CDs. And some vinyl. I still want my books and magazines. And I see Blaremont as a part of that shift, too.”