“Talking Heart” is a chalkboard mural I painted live at the People’s State of the Union, a storytelling event hosted by Imagining America at University of California, Davis, on the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 2. This annual event, held in concert with the grassroots arts organization US Department of Arts and Culture, invites people across the United States to define the “State of the Union” — near the time of the presidential speech by the same name — in story circles, where they share experiences from their own lives.