What the book is about: The Invisible Backpack is a labor of love created from a life-long struggle to come to terms with who the author is and accept himself as he was meant to be. We are all born with an invisible backpack on our backs. It is where we put all the hurts of life. When we are young and courageously climbing the stairs of life, it is extremely light, and we really don’t know it’s there. As we get older, it gets heavier with whatever pain, grief, or trauma we experience. Unfortunately, we resist taking these feelings out of our backpacks and let go of them. Some of us hold onto them so tightly, we forget to make room for the things that lighten our load…forgiveness, acceptance, tolerance, and love. For if we can put these items in our backpacks, it will cancel out all of the negative things we’ve been holding onto, and our life journeys will become much lighter.
William L. Hartwick was born and raised in Crescent City, California, the northern tip of the great state, the last incorporated city in California before Oregon. It’s the home of the Smith River and the giant redwoods, a beautiful place for a little boy to grow up and become the man he is today.
He’s retired from a 30-year career as an educator, teaching first grade and serving as an elementary school principal. Now he’s an author, a blogger and motivational speaker. He currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona pursuing his dreams as a motivational speaker and author.
Why did you write the Invisible Backpack, and why is it in verse?
I actually never chose to write The Invisible Backpack. As a child I couldn’t do any of the academics, I couldn’t read or write, but in seventh grade I found I could rhyme, so I started writing rhythmically. It was a way to communicate. Over the course of time I started putting my thoughts down in journals. I titled my first journal Reality, What a Concept.
The Invisible Backpack came out of my first year teaching in 1993. I realized I couldn’t understand the loads my students were carrying, what was in their “invisible backpacks.” And I realized my own “invisible backpack” was getting heavier.
So I started writing more and more, and encouragement came from friends of mine, who said, “Why don’t you share your thoughts?” In 2018 I had a situation at work that went south, and I decided to go for it. I got a publisher, and from that point on, I’ve been writing a lot and sharing my thoughts. There are no limitations, no rules to my work. One review I received was about how I was deconstructing all rules of written poetry.
The Invisible Backpack is a labor of love, my life story, and how one man sees the world.
What inspired you to become an elementary school principal?
My inspiration came from Sheri Lyn Potter, my 5th-grade teacher. We all have teachers who have been inspirations and touched us, and she was mine.
She was my mentor, she “team-taught” with me and jokingly encouraged me not to become a principal when I grew up (and she has apologized since!)
She believed in me. She taught me life lessons and to be strong and not afraid. And she allowed me to give a skit to my favorite childhood John Denver song.
As a teacher I give kids freedom every day and let them take breaks when they need them.
Also I was inspired by my 8th grade teacher, Ted Webber. He called me Billy Aloysius Horatio Lewellen Adam Hobart Hartwick! He would tell me in class that I would amount to something, but that right then, I needed a time out. And I still believe that. It’s okay to stop and rest sometimes.
Tell us more about your experience and thoughts about being a school principal.
As a principal, I learned every child’s name and everything about them so I could make their learning environment as best as possible. I hope that when people remember Principal Hartwick, they remember that I loved the kids.
We don’t have to have a top down bureaucratic system in education. We can turn the pyramid upside down and be all on the same playing field. Opportunities come when we remember that we are all equal and here together for the same purpose, to take these young folks and give them an opportunity to become adults.
Look at children as if they were adults, teach them what they will need to know, not just what you think they should know. I’ve had a 30 year career with kids and what I’ve learned is that whether you can read or not, count or not, there is a way to make your life awesome.
I thank everyone in the educational system, teachers, kids, staff, for being part of my life. Del Norte County, you rock!
What do kids need most nowadays?
Kids need freedom. Freedom to learn, opportunities to think, explore, and get out of the “sit down, shut up, and read” mode.
Public education is the best invention and the worst system, and Covid gave us the chance to change it. Kids need some structure, but also opportunities to explore. Sometimes we overthink what kids need to learn. Canned programs don’t teach children, teachers do. William Hartwick’s book The Invisible Backpack is available here
What do you want people to understand about bipolar disorder?
Bipolar is a term for a condition that people have. It’s not something we know for sure that you’re born with, like Tourette’s, which is neurological. What they don’t understand is that bipolar can be caused or worsened by trauma in your life.
There are levels to bipolar, 1 and 2. People fall into the bipolar rabbit hole and then people don’t want to deal with them because they’re “crazy.”
When people don’t want to listen to you, you get louder and louder, and then you get ostracized, as I have been. My family decided that I was threatening to them and stopped having anything to do with me. I’ve been exiled by my brother. Am I bitter? I used to be, but it’s his deal, not mine.
The answer is self-love. I’ve been able to get through life with self-love, and I was 54 when I discovered that.
Let me tell you a story. A young man interviewed Sigmund Freud and asked him how he came up with his theories and he said, “love and hard work.” That’s what it takes to get by in life, love and hard work.
As my father said, “Don’t get too comfortable in life, unless it’s with yourself.”
William Hartwick on Facebook
