Growing up, \u00a0I associated Chicago with only two things: Ferris Bueller and deep-dish pizza.<\/p>\n
So when I came to the city for the first time, I quickly sought out the iconic dish. Accompanied by my new friend Sara, I arrived at Lou Malnati\u2019s in Evanston with high hopes.<\/p>\n
But to my disgust, these dreams were soon suffocated by a thick, globby layer of cheese.<\/p>\n
Unusual tasting crust, unappealing texture and chunky tomatoes. Chewing on my pizza, I smiled at Sara, though I imagine it looked more like a grimace. Why did I drag her here?<\/p>\n
After paying the check, we returned to Northwestern\u2019s campus and our multitude of tasks. My papers were stacked up high, thicker even than that travesty of a pizza. In the second week, our assignment was to write a full-length feature article.<\/p>\n
Sara and I left campus searching for a story. Evanston and Northwestern were new to me: endless streets, glimpses of a vast lake, and imposing glass-and-concrete buildings. Although features had always been my favorite to write, I felt stuck.<\/p>\n
I called the Frances Willard Museum hoping to write about the legacy of the temperance activist, but the woman on the phone had a bit of a temper. I investigated the historical statue of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, but had trouble with sources. I considered writing about Northwestern\u2019s bunny population, but I couldn\u2019t track one down for an interview. All of my ideas fell flat.<\/p>\n
When I exhausted all other options, the pizza I hated so much saved me. I wrote about whether Chicago locals really enjoy deep dish more than alternative styles. Nearly everyone I talked to found it to be a heavy, once-a-year thing. I was proven correct: New York Style took the cake, or the pie I suppose, as the superior pizza.<\/p>\n
\u201cDigging deep into deep dish: A slice of Evanstonians speak out on the Chicago staple\u201d turned out delicious.<\/p>\n
From this experience, I learned that compelling articles do not have to be about earth-shattering topics. I didn\u2019t discover a Kraken lurking in the waters of Lake Michigan. I didn\u2019t witness a newsworthy scandal or crime. Sometimes the best results come from something simple.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Finding a feature topic is tough, but even a pizza can lead to an interesting story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":4705,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[259],"class_list":["post-4410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experiences"],"acf":[],"authors":[{"term_id":259,"user_id":119,"is_guest":0,"slug":"alliedeutsch","display_name":"Allie Deutsch","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/23d9d585d7f56b8a2699980196b7b2338ea97f88597d1973039a578d400f7e14?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4410"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6661,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4410\/revisions\/6661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4410"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cherubs.medill.northwestern.edu\/2024\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=4410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}