title: Python UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)
body: <p>In Python 2.7, see the following error, when trying to cast type to ensure it matches the output schema. </p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character in position
    0: ordinal not in range(128)
    Tried to find why and reproduced the error in Jupiter. By simply typing in. </p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <pre><code>str(u'\u2013')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>What is the way to cast type to string that can handle this type of error? Thanks!</p>