title: Python adds unicode to file
body: <p>Im writing a default dict (list) to  a file with :</p>
  
  <pre><code>def write_to_file(slack_dict):
      if os.path.exists("slack_dict"):
          print ("slack_dict file already exist, skipping writing")
      else:
          print ("writing slack_dict to file")
          F = open('slack_dict', "w")
          F.write(str(slack_dict).encode('UTF-8'))
          F.close()
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>the slack_dict being written to file is  :</p>
  
  <pre><code>defaultdict(&lt;type 'list'&gt;, {u'djin_acontentmgmt_sample': [{'color': u'blue', 
      'status': 'SUCCESS', 'region': u'virginia', 'env': u'int', 'job_no': '122'}]})
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>How do I remove the unicode strings ? I already have tried <code>F.write(str(slack_dict).encode('UTF-8'))</code></p>