Writers on the Range: Tips for a new code of the West

It's not always easy living in the rural West, with customs so entrenched that everybody takes them for granted. What makes it hard for the newest newcomers is that they're caught up in a mysterious culture.

Learning the Old West code was easy decades ago. Novelist Zane Gray's "Code of the West" told men to wear a hat only outdoors, to never wave but nod at someone on horseback, and to treat women with chivalry. You - and you were always presumed to be male - were also advised to take your gun belt off before sitting down to eat.

But here we are in 2022, and from what county officials and some...