The headline is what first caught this reporter’s attention.

True to its word, the short essay that followed contained, in part, a message meant for residential roofing contractors; its thrust may also resonate with the broader roofing industry. 

Working in the newsroom means keeping our antennae up for stories like this, written by Beverly Stoddard, an author and writer for a nonprofit in New Hampshire.  

Stoddard's floridly written essay is brief and essentially divided into halves (so jump down to the bottom half if you're impatient). It describes a friend’s experience shopping for a new roof in the beachside town of Rye, N.H., population 5,500, 60 miles north of Boston, and the impression made by an outside salesman.

Saying more risks giving too much away, and it's best read in the author's own words. This reporter's takeaway was to pass the message — caught inside a proverbial bottle afloat in the digital sea — on to our readers. Think of it as a 'fly-on-the-wall' perspective. 

Read the blog post HERE.

We thank InDepthNH and the New Hampshire Center for Public Interest Journalism for permission to bring you this message.